


i'll leave bread crumbs for you

by Grilled_Koi



Series: bread crumbs, every-f*cking-where [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akira has maxed stats, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Sassy Akechi, Shido is a fucking ass head and deserves to suffer in jail
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:00:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24156250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grilled_Koi/pseuds/Grilled_Koi
Summary: "It is even possible that he is being controlled by someone.""The one who erased cognitive psience from this world is surely the culprit behind everything."The messages were like bread crumbs, and if Akechi had taught Akira anything, it was that one could still make a case with just small pieces of information.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira
Series: bread crumbs, every-f*cking-where [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1878604
Comments: 56
Kudos: 292





	1. hook, line, sinker

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by a [post](https://twitter.com/ClaroCod/status/1260266862400634880) i found on twitter!

It was November 12th and Akira was still awake at 1 am. Akira’s brain was twisting and turning, leaving him wide awake. That thought was just irking him, finally letting up to double check those messages Akechi had sent in the group chat a few hours ago.

“‘It is even possible that he is being controlled by someone.’” he muttered, trying to get something out of his brain. 

Akira glossed over the texts again, it just felt too suspicious to him. Felt like Akechi seemed to know where more than he let on and that…and that it’d lead to some dangerous thoughts of him.

“Hey, Morgana…” the cat at his feet shuffled upward, crawling towards the teen’s face. His eyes were trained on his phone and he continued, “Would it be far fetched to say that Goro is the Black Mask…?”

“Oh...I…I don’t think so…” Morgana looked pensive, his little nose scrunched up, “he’s already...planning to you know...kill you so I wouldn’t…I don’t doubt it…why are you asking?”

All the teen could do was let out a sigh, quickly he dropped his phone back down, leaving him to bathe in the muted moonlight. Silence was ever permeating and unrelenting, the same to his thoughts, too many too even think to sleep. And he was probably one of the deeper sleepers of the group. 

“It’s because I think he’s trying to tell us he knows who is the one behind it all and is trying to get us to do something”

He didn’t like the thought of it, the thought of his crush being the Black Mask and just everything that had been happening so far. Akira did not want Akechi to be the Black Mask. 

“But that doesn’t…make sense though...”

Slowly, he got up and leaned against the windowsill. His hand ruffling through his bangs as he could only frown.

“Yeah...but when you think about it...he never really lets up the princely act…the only time I see it is when y’know, he’s here in Leblanc just enjoying his time. He’s snarky and feels a bit stuck up. Sometimes sarcastic and that just… he’s not even like that at all when we were in the Metaverse…” curling up his knees to his chest, he looked back down at Morgana, “Not to mention how weird it appears to be that he doesn’t think but rather acts like he knows that but can’t just outright say it…” 

“But why not though…?” 

“His phone might be bugged, that’s the only reason why he wouldn’t really say anything…I’ll text Futaba about it and see if anything shows up.” Akira answered.

fckingGremlin  
  
hey, u up rn?  
  
dur hur, course i am  
  
need smth?  
  
ye can u check goro's phone for any bugs?  
  
sure gotta ask y though? you worried abt your him or smth  
  
kinda  
  
k lover boy! gimme like a few hours, i wanna comb through everything just in case  
  
lkasfdlkjs DON'T CALL ME THAT  
  


Dropping his phone back down, some relief rested on his shoulders, albeit small. Another exhausted sigh came out and muttered, “Pretty sure Goro doesn’t even like me…”

“Gotta ask, who would be the one controlling him? Akechi didn’t say much and even if we find out he has another bug on his phone, that doesn’t mean anything if he doesn’t tell us.” 

“Wait...he mentioned something…” Akira quickly reached for his phone again, scrolling up to Akechi’s texts in the group chat.

“‘The one who erased cognitive psience from this world is surely the culprit behind everything.’” Akira read, before mumbling, “This is so frustrating… even Futaba couldn’t find out who- Wait… why was Sae here before? Didn’t Goro say that she was assigned to this case?”

“Yeah… which would mean that Sojiro knows something! He knew Wakaba, but how though?”

Akira pondered a while, in a normal situation, Sojiro wouldn’t have known about it...“Unless he was working with her! Finally, we got some sort of lead!”

Morgana looked at him with a smile, “C’mon, let’s go to bed now. You still need sleep if you want this to work. 

Akira could only nod. 

As the morning let sunlight sprinkle on top of Tokyo, Akira dragged himself forward. Yes, he had gotten the most he possibly could before waking up and getting his ass moving and towards the school. But even after a cup of coffee, which was very delicious, Akira couldn’t help but want to sleep.

Right before he could fall asleep, his phone dinged, snapping him back to reality and getting him to go straight on his phone.

FckingGremlin  
  
**Today** 11:48 AM  
so uhhh yeah he got a bug on his phone  
  
it took waaaaaay longer to look for it than i thought it would  
  
mostly cuz it's more integrated into the OS system and hidden behind a lot of shit and all of it is in separate folders, like all of em in like every nook and cranny of his phone  
  
the bug reads all of his chat logs, listens in on him 24/7 even outside of calls, and tracks wherever the hell he is  
  
tldr he’s being controlled by some sus ass mofo and clearly can’t speak up abt it or else  
  
thx  
  
you gonna get everyone to meet up??  
  
def, we’re in deeper shit than we actually realized  
  
oof...well im pretty sure we’ll be to get through this, we are the phantom thieves!!  
  


As Akira closed the chat and opened up the group chat, he whispered, “We are definitely in some deep waters, but like Futaba said…”

“We’ll be able to get out of this!” Morgana finished with a whispered scream, earning another soft chuckle from Akira.

ryuji said we aren't the PTs  
  
hey guys, meet up at leblanc at 4  
  
the BRO  
kay  
  
shouldnt you be saying that in like the actual group chat, the one akechi's in?  
  
it's abt goro  
  
the BRO  
ohhhhh gotcha bro  
  
before you guys say anything, it's not THAT  
  
womANNizer  
here i am, about to buy a pack of chocolate after school...  
  
wAIT BRING THE CHOCOLATE TOO ANN  
  
PLZ ANN  
  
womANNizer  
ill think abt it  
  
fist of the north star  
Please, you guys, pay attention.  
  
but queeeen, I already have top marks in my class, do I really?  
  
fist of the north star  
Yes, or do you want...?  
  
NOPE I'M FINE!!!  
  
feed me  
We do not have any Mementos request as of yet?  
  
nah  
  


The moment he pressed enter, his eyes were still trained on his phone. Ann was trying to call out to him, but before his brain could process the sound, his head moved just a few centimetres to the left. A piece of chalk whizzed right past him as he slid his phone back into his pocket.

Before anyone could make any comments on the unsuccessful attempt to mark Akira with white chalk on his forehead, he propped his head on hands. A devilish smile tugged on his lips and honey slick voice followed, “The Meiji Restoration, whilst bringing pride back to Japan’s name had also been one of the main causes of bolstering Japan’s arrogance and subsequent loss and withdrawal from World War 2. Does that answer the question, Ushimaru-sensei?”

His reply left his teacher into a sputtering mess before quickly recollecting and continuing class.

He DID study, after all, a smart student was just another disguise of his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who knew that me taking coding classes would help me here XD  
> also that last moment? inspired by mementos mission, a spin off manga from persona 5 and bloody hell every time i see akira, i go brain dead


	2. biting our nails till then

“Are you gonna ask Boss about who stole the research…?” Morgana was poking out of his bag, his tail curled and twisted, moving on its own. 

Class had already ended and there was time to spare before everyone was meeting up in Leblanc. Well everyone except for Akechi of course.

“Yeah, no better time than now really…” Akira scratched his head, a little nervous about what’s to come but he was gonna have to pull through somehow. 

Morgana nodded, his paw on Akira’s cheek in an attempt to calm him, “It’ll be alright, Boss shouldn’t be angry with you asking him…” The words did help calm him down, albeit barely. 

As the bells attached to the entrance of Leblanc jingled, the smell of coffee and curry wafted into Akira’s nose. Bringing a sense of home he would never have been able to experience if he were back in his hometown. He scanned around the place, noting it was as empty as usual. A glance at the clock and it was going to be a while before the clock ticked to 4, some more time before any of his friends got here.

Akira started, albeit still nervous and a bit hesitant, “Hey, Boss. Could you…?” 

“Sure, better than letting you get caught after all. And it’s not like anyone’s gonna be coming at this rate. Guessing that your starving friend would like a plate?” Sojiro asked a pot of curry was already cooking in the back as if he had some foresight as to what was going to happen. Akira’s mind panged with a feeling of fear, that maybe he would lose this feeling of home.

“Y-yeah…” His heart was pounding in his ears, he didn’t want to ruin the feeling of home and his relationship with Sojiro, but…it was too important to leave it unanswered, “I…I have a question, it’s about all the stuff Futaba’s mom was researching…

Akechi had told us something, well it was more like a theory of his…He said that it was most likely the people who were behind it-”

“Kid, you should drop it. You know what I said right? To back out of a fight if it’s too hard? Well, this fight is just that, it’s impossible to win in this. I refuse to let Futaba get hurt.” His eyes were staring straight into Akira, his crossword already abandoned on the bar. The stare itself already drenching Akira in a bucket of regret. But still, he had to push through.

“But!”

In the background, the soft click of a door resounded and light footsteps moved closer to Akira. 

“No is a no, kid. You don’t need to know who stole the research, this is for your own safety.”

Futaba in the background finally spoke up, “You knew…?” Her voice startled both of them, but Sojiro more. She continued, trying but failing to choke back tears that just seemed to roll endlessly from her tear ducts, “You knew but you didn’t say anything?! I- I’ve been trying for years, years trying to see who stole all of mom’s research and h-how it was used but! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Hearing the words from Futaba, Akira could only grimace in more regret, he was tearing a family apart just so that he could save his crush…

“I didn’t have a choice! If I told you, who knows what kind of men Shido would send your way!” Sojiro lectured back, “He has so much more power than you combined, and if that Akechi boy is correct, then you shouldn’t even think of fighting him.”

Akira was the first to notice the slip-up, he heard the name before, but all he could do was just ask, “Shido…?”

When Sojiro finally realized what he had said, he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. His face scrunched up in frustration.

“You can’t tell me not to fight him, Sojiro! He’s, he’s the one who told the Black Mask to kill her!” Futaba shouted back, Akira trying hard to hold her back.

“I mean it when I say that you shouldn’t fight him. Don’t think of it just, leave it be. There’s no worth in trying to fight him. Your friends will be here soon, right? Go upstairs, I’m going to be closing up early,” Sojiro finished, placing a plate of curry on the bar, “This is for your friend. Lock up when everyone leaves.”

Soon he left, leaving Akira and Futaba behind. 

Akira rubbed her back, trying to console the girl and apologizing, “Futaba, I’m…sorry…” He didn’t mean to do any of that…he just wanted to know was all…“Goro said that whoever was behind all the cases was probably the one who stole your mom’s research…”

“Same here, thought Boss would be okay about us asking…” Morgana added on, clearly looking dejected as he rested on Akira’s shoulders. 

A couple of sniffles and she looked up at him and Morgana, replying, “No, no you don’t have to be. ‘Sides I wouldn’t have found out any other way…And, that means we’re one step closer to finding out who the Black Mask is, right?”

Akira nodded, a small smile returning to his lips, “Yeah…c’mon, let’s wait for everyone else…we still need to talk about some other stuff…” 

As the hour hand moved towards 4 pm, everyone slowly trickled in. One by one, filling their spots in the small dusty attic.

“So what’s this about Akechi?” Ryuji finally asked, breaking the silence that hung above them.

“He…he’s probably the Black Mask…” Akira announced. A round of gasps and questions rose, Akira quickly calmed everyone down to continue, “But I think he’s being controlled. Here’s the thing, if he were the Black Mask and the Black Mask had been active for 3 years already, that means he started when he was 15,  _ 15  _ years old. And even he said it himself in the group chat…How the Black Mask was being controlled…” 

He didn’t want to admit to it, that there was a possibility that Akechi was the reason behind all the cases for the past few years. His heart squeezed and his mind could barely handle the thought of it.

“Then…who’s the one making Akechi do it all…? And why hasn’t Akechi said anything?” Ann asked, confused, and scared at the thought of it.

“His phone is bugged, not like how I bugged it but bugged to the point where he wouldn’t have any sort of privacy…his location is tracked, so is every word he says or texts to anyone…” Futaba answered, her knees already curled up to her chest, “It’s all hidden behind the OS system and in separate folders too, which means that when he got the phone, it was already bugged up…he probably knew that too…But he gave us a clue in the group chat, said that whoever stole mom’s research was probably the one controlling the Black Mask…”

“I asked Boss earlier, and apparently it’s a really powerful man called Shido. Futaba, can you do a quick search of who he is?” Akira asked, Futaba nodded and went straight to her computer to pull up everything on him. He let out a sigh before continuing again, “Here’s the thing…I want to tell him about our plans.”

Ryuji slammed the table, shouting, “What?! Didn’t you say his phone is bugged or some shit like that? Doesn’t that mean whoever the hell is making him do all of this can hear it? ‘Sides he was planning to kill you!”

“Ryuji, let’s calm down first. We don’t know the full story and we don’t even know why or how Shido is controlling him. I agree that telling him seems unwise unless Akira, do you have a plan to deal with his phone?” Makoto calmly stated, pulling Ryuji back down to his seat. 

“Weeeell, I can always lock his location before he gets here and we can dunk his phone in a tub of water. No reason for Shido to replace his phone now since he could do it, which means he can finally talk to us. Also-” Before finishing her sentence, she turned her laptop around so that everyone could see it, “This is Shido. Masayoshi Shido. He’s running for and everybody keeps talking about how great of a man he is and Prime Minster he could be. Lemme play a video of one of his speeches real quick.”

Suddenly, out of nowhere his head started hurting. His mind went back to a few months ago when he was charged with assault. The eyes, the face, the voice, the bald head…it all matched up…

When the video ended, his head was still hurting, he was starting to remember everything. 

“I remember now. We saw him back at the Wilton buffet…He’s…the reason why I’m on probation…” Akira said, his eyes closed and a hand cradling his throbbing head.

Haru covered her mouth, she swelled with anger towards the man and shouted, “You said you were falsely accused right? If we are correct about him controlling Akechi, then that would mean he was the reason why my father died! How rotten can this man possibly be?” 

“Truly what a rotten man…if both Kaneshiro and Sen- Madarame saw the Black Mask in their palaces, then it is safe to say that Shido was controlling the two of them too!” Yusuke added in, his face contorted to that of disgust.

“But why would Akechi be on his side…? And how…?” Morgana asked.

Akira’s eyes trained on the ground, unwilling to look at everyone in the eye, “I think we should ask Goro that…”

“Bro…you still want to ask him? Wouldn’t it be dangerous for you?” Ryuji asked, his words were dripping in worry and Akira could only stew in more guilt.

“I know that…but I think even without Goro telling us everything, that he’s just like us. Used by rotten adults who were selfish and he said that his father had abandoned him…followed by his mother’s suicide which threw him into the foster care…Sorry about worrying you Ryuji.”

Futaba added, a hint of sadness in her voice too, “I remember him saying that…he probably went through worse things than I did…if Sojiro didn’t adopt me, I don’t know what would’ve happened. I don’t even think I’d be here with you guys…”

“If he is indeed the cause of all the deaths, then…I cannot forgive him…he is still the one who killed my father, however. However, if I were to blatantly give him all the blame and turn a blind eye to Shido, I’d be no better than them!” Haru admitted, Akira thankful for her comment.

“Thank you…I just, thank you guys…” Akira said, grateful for all the friends who surround him. He looked back down at his fingers, a twinge of guilt resurfaced, “I just, I’m sorry if I’m a bit selfish right now.”

Ryuji put his hand on Akira’s shoulder, startling the other a bit before he started, “Akira, dude. You can be selfish…I, I know like yeah when you’re worried, I get all worried too, it cuz we’re in the same boat…And you’ve helped me a lot too, just don’t get yourself killed?” 

“Yeah, what Ryuji said! You’ve already gushed about how much you like him and you look like a sad puppy right now, no joke. I’m sure Akechi has his reasons and I’m sure we can help him out,” Ann flashed a smile which helped easied Akira’s nerves. 

Yusuke nodded with a confident smile, his blue eyes open with eagerness, “Yes, we shall aid Akechi in whatever he needs. It goes against my will to allow such a rotten man to walk freely and wreak havoc.”

“We’re the Phantom Thieves after all! Even  _ if _ Akechi is like our rival, it wouldn’t do good to turn a blind eye if he was being manipulated by a rotten adult! That would go against what we do!” Morgana chirped, a cheeky smile on the small animal.

A light chuckle left Akira’s lips, his face puffed with small amounts of pink.

“Thank you guys.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> he's coming~~~ just wait a little bit more


	3. you're back awfully late

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "honey, i'm home"

ryuji said we aren't the PTs  
  
fist of the north star  
So fairly quick recap of our plans, we'll be at Leblanc as soon as class ends. Akira will text in the group chat for everyone to meet up and from there Futaba will need to lock Akechi's location as soon as possible in order for it to not arouse suspicion, once he gets here Ryuji and I will be tackling him and Ann will look for his phone and dunk it in water Yusuke prepared beforehand. Haru will provide the new phone for convenience as small way to bribe him, but after that, it is all up to Akira to try and convince Akechi. If he fails, we'll go to plan B of how to deal with the assassination later.  
  
feed me  
An excellent plan if I must say. I do hope that Akira will be able to convince him, so as to avoid leave Akira to the hands of luck.  
  
sugary haru ice tea  
Likewise, I must admit that... I cannot think of forgiving him...though. He has killed quite the number of people, and my thoughts on him are quite mixed...  
  
womANNizer  
it's alright! we all got our own thoughts and tbh i still dunno how i feel abt him too but if hes just like us then i wanna understand him at least  
  
thx guys... and sorry abt that haru, futaba you too, he killed your only parents and this is a bit selfish of me......  
  
sugary haru ice tea  
Oh, please don't be!! You needn't worry about it, and it is alright to be selfish. It might not be very comfortable for me, but that bastard Shido is main cause of this. He ought to sit in jail for forcing a teen to commit murders for him!  
  
FckingGremlin  
ya ya, shido's still the one who ordered akechi to do it sooooooooooo shut it loverboy. and like shido basically reeks of boomer energy  
  
the BRO  
yeah! u gotta be more selfish for once and shido is the reason why youre here on probation. so we are gonna make shido suffer through shit  
  
man, can't say how much i love you guys......and holy shit futaba you're right........  
  
I SHOULD'VE SAID OK BOOMER WHEN HE SAID HE WAS GONNA SUE ME FUCK  
  
womANNizer  
luv u too!!! but man you missed out......  
  
the BRO  
for real bro....  
  
T^T  
  
fist of the north star  
Okay, it looks like everyone understands. It's best we go to sleep now seeing as it is nearing midnight. The deadline for stealing my sister's heart is nearing and it wouldn't be much of a good idea to stay up too late. We will be handling Akechi tomorrow too and it would be best for Ryuji and I to be in top shape.  
  
womANNizer  
k!! gn guys!!!  
  
sugar haru ice tea  
May you all have sweet dreams!  
  
the BRO  
thx haru!! nighty guys!  
  


Dropping the phone a little ways from his head, Akira stared at the ceiling. A wide warm smile plastered on his face.

“Ha…now I don’t regret pushing that guy…” he muttered, a little satisfied with himself, having already pissed off Akechi’s puppeteer. 

Morgana noticing that Akira was still awake, smacked his cheek a few times and groaned out, “C’mooon Akira, it’s time to beeeeeeeed…”

“Yes, yes, Mona.”

Above him the stars shimmered with the moonlight, it was like a little light guiding his path. Content with what he had achieved, sleep came in with swift ease as he closed his eyes. 

Morning came and went, same with school, his nerves fired up for what was to come. The mission was a go and they only had so much time before Akechi came.

we're not the phantom thieves!!!  
  
alRIGHT!!! we got a few mementos requests to do and I'd like to clear them out before we disband and all that jazz. meet up at leblanc at 4:30pm!! I gotta prepare sum stuff and I don't want y'all to wait for me  
  
feed me  
Quite admirable of you, we ought to gain some more fighting experience before the heist.  
  
FckingGremlin  
if only we didn't disband....so many moments of just screaming ok boomer at all those shadows...im gonna miss that guys.............:C  
  
the BRO  
gonna miss that too..............  
  
that's the biggest mood I've had in ages, guys stop making me wanna cry in class :,c  
  
fist of the north star  
What you should be stopping is texting in the middle of the class.  
  
the BRO  
reaallly? its not like anyone cares if im texting  
  
fist of the north star  
Ryuji. Off. Or else.  
  
the BRO  
YES M'AM  
  
FckingGremlin  
f in the chat guys for ryuji  
  
f  
  
fist of the north star  
You too, Akira, phone down.  
  
yes m'am...  
  
FckingGremlin  
fs for everyone in school  
  


From underneath his desk, Morgana poked his small head out and whispered, “Mission is a go?”

Akira couldn’t help but smirk and give a thumbs up.

Everyone had already made it to Leblanc before 4:30 pm. Sojiro was already out, probably with the help of Futaba sending him home due to Phantom Thieves business. Yusuke was off in the back preparing a tub of water at the sink as Futaba was watching Akechi’s location on the map. Everyone watched over her shoulders, in anticipation of Akechi’s arrival. 

“Aaaaaaaand paused!” Futaba whispered as the satisfying click of the button knocked everyone back to their senses, “His location is now locked, it’ll be weird if it stays that way so let’s hope he doesn’t get stopped by any fans!”

Akira was the first to stand up, already directing everyone to their go-to places. “Part two of Mission Reverse Crow is a go! Ryuji, Makoto, Morgana, and Ann stand by the door when he comes, but keep yourself hidden so he doesn’t know until you two tackle him. Yusuke put the bucket of water on the counter and sit at the counter with Haru and Futaba.”

As everyone went into their positions, Akira kept a close eye on the clock. The seconds ticking by so slowly. The few minutes that passed felt like years as everyone waited and waited. Despite the warmth that Leblanc oozed with on a daily basis, the cafe felt _suffocating_. Trepidation turning into precipitation on the Phantom Thieves back. 

“How much longer do we gotta wait…?” Ryuji muttered, receiving a small elbow to his side by Makoto and Ann shushing him.

“Akechi’s always early, but I guess we got here a tad bit early, no? It’ll only be a few more minutes before everyone arrives, ” Haru said, hiding the true meaning behind her words along with other words.

“Weeeeeell, I don’t gotta go to school so I’m always here early,” Futaba added, nibbling on some of Yusuke’s snacks.

Yusuke, trying but failing to move his snacks away from Futaba settles with whacking her hand out of the way, “Excuse me, but I’d rather eat without your fingers in it. And must I say, aren’t you perhaps one of the later arrivals?”

Futaba scowled at him, “Shut it Inari.”

Akira laughed a bit at their squabble, but when he heard that jingle he turned around. Anxiety and nervousness finally revealing itself and drowns his nerves. 

The telltale jingle behind them drew their attention towards the door, where Akechi greeted them with a wave and his classic smile.

Akechi looks at the table, noting only Futaba, Haru, Yusuke, and Akira’s presence, “Hello, it seems like I’m-” 

Morgana quickly interrupts him by jumping on his face, causing Akechi to fall backward. Quickly Ryuji and Makoto snake up behind him and grasp both of his arms with Ann diving in to look for his phone. 

Akechi looked down the moment he felt Ann’s hand in his pockets, clearly flustered at the situation, “Wha- What is going on here? Takamaki-san why on Earth are y-!”

“Found it! Aaaaand!” Ann squealed, quickly going toward the counter to dunk his phone into the water, “In it goes!”

“I! What are you lot scheming? You just tossed my phone into a bucket of water with no reasoning behind it.” Akechi quipped, a bit annoyed, his princely mask breaking away.

“We got plenty of good reasons, right Leader?” Ryuji replied, his hands wrapped squarely around him.

Akechi scoffed, “Well, I wouldn’t have guessed anyone but your leader to have planned this out. So, _leader_ , any words?” His words were prickly and his tone seemed more _fitting_. It felt, _right_ , obviously rude and obtuse, but still more Akechi Goro than the usual Akechi Goro he’d show off.

“Guys, let him sit down first, I’d rather have Akechi sitting down and comfortable,” Akira motioned, his nerves were tingling, but he was going to try his damnedest to get Akechi on their side one way or another. 

“Back to last name bases already? Seems like I’ve fucked up somewhere.” 

The words grated on Akira’s mind, but he paid no mind. Makoto and Ryuji begrudgingly let go of him.

As Akechi sat down, Haru and Futaba moved out of the way along with Yusuke leaning on the counter. Akechi’s rusty brown eyes staring into Akira’s sharp grey ones. Dread was filling Akira’s senses and it felt numbing. Everyone stared at the two attentively, the silence was suffocating and the warmth of Leblanc left them.

Finally, a sigh left Akira’s lips and he answered.

“Akechi, we know you’re the Black Mask.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> goro's chat name has yet to be revealed, a tad bit disappointing but he really doesn't talk in chat enough in game....


	4. a kiss on the glove for a good luck

A smile cracked on his face. It was cruel, cynical, and cold cut. His eyes went manic and laughs were spewing out of him. Akira eyes him, unable to predict what Akechi would do, well he never has been able to, probably will never be able to.

Akechi decides to let out an entertained sigh, leaning back to sit. Crossing his leg, linking his hands together, he shot a look of mockery as his head tilted to the left a bit. If he was going to be cornered, then why not bite back?

“I doubt I need to see the reason for how you figured it out, with how you have Sakura on your side,” Akechi rolls his head to the right a bit more, his gloved hands extended out, about to ask a question. And fuck if Akira is not scared, horny, and about to drool, he doesn’t know what he is, “Though, indulge me and my inquiries. Why tell me? You know very well that my kill count is well over double-digit numbers. Hell, I don’t believe I kept track of it after my tenth one. I knew you were a spineless fool, but quite honestly what is  _ this _ ? Wouldn’t it be better for you to oust me? Though seeing the public opinion on you guys, I doubt it would work.”

He motioned around, his smile was oozing with malice and it was akin to that of a Cheshire smile. His words were cold, sending shivers down everyone’s spine. They never saw this side of him, no one has, he would never allow it. And he reveled in the sight of everyone fidgeting, well everyone except  _ him _ .

“Didn’t take you for a forgetful one,” His laugh a little husky, his glasses inch closer to the tip of his nose, revealing more of Akira’s sharp eyes. And it’s not even intentional, “Don’t you remember what you said two days ago? About how the killer was almost certainly being controlled by someone? Quite the confession if I must comment.” 

Joker, the confident, unhinged, and rebellious version of him was maiming its way and removing his weaker, shyer, and more nervous side of him. His eyes met squarely with Akechi’s, this time his nerves were washed clean, sun-dried, and ready to cleave away at his neck and secrets.

“It seems as though you hanging around me like some pathetic puppy has taught you some skills,” Akechi humored, drawing in some expletives from Ryuji, “I will admit, it was a cry for help, a pathetic one. However, seeing as how you have disposed of my phone in the most inconvenient methods does prove you did some digging before confronting me.”

The comment confirmed everyone’s suspicions and it only further bolstered Akira’s confidence in this plan. 

“Well, that’s why I-” He points to himself in the most extra way possible. Akira screams in his head, but Joker refuses to stop, “-the leader of Phantom Thieves, and under a unanimous decision, have decided to recruit you. For real this time. We know enough to propose this to you. Join us, for real this time. We’ll help you take down Shido with you. Plus a new phone.”

Once the words trickled into his ears and he became aware of it. Another round of laughter filtered through and Akira held onto his knuckles pensively. Sure Joker took over, but that didn’t mean that his lies, bluffs, and the confident tone weren’t impenetrable. His laughter died down, his face turning stone cold. He wore no smile, his eyes were wide and empty, his face was perfectly normal, but to Akira, it felt like he was an animal caged and watched by Akechi. 

“Quite normally I would say no, but I would like to entertain your thoughts on why you would possibly think that I would even think of joining you to take  _ him _ down. He is mine alone to rip apart, piece by piece. So what say you, having the thought of convincing me. Sans the phone deal.”

Akira didn’t expect  _ this _ of all things. Thinking that Akechi was merely just dragged by the collar of his shirt into this mess. It was almost as if Akechi was trying to convince himself he wasn’t dragged into it. 

“You’re a detective Akechi, you should’ve been able to figure it out. But I’ll help you out, seeing as both parties would only benefit from this deal and you not taking the offer would only hinder  _ your _ plans. Everyone here, if you include what would happen if Shido became Prime Minister, has and will continue to suffer due to him. And before you ask, he is the reason why I’m here and why your plans are failing horribly. You know that assault case? I didn’t punch him hard enough, big pity that I didn't punch him at all. Which I’m pretty sure you’ve already seen, seeing as how you’re planning to murder me.”

Light surprise touches Akechi’s face followed by light chuckling, his eyes closed shut as the smile steals Akira’s heart  _ again _ . It still feels like a pair of forceps and a microscope is forced upon him, bearing upon all of his nasty secrets and vile crimes. But still, his face has eased and it looks as though Akechi was pondering over something.

“I will ask again, why? Why get me on your side? You know I will murder you, you know I have murdered people, destroyed families, ruined lives, and all the like. So,  _ why _ ? It’s like you’re holding a charity for a murderer, a serial one no less.”

The shadow on his face no longer existed, the rusty brown eyes returning to their original mirth, albeit lacking some of the more gentle sides of it. Still, it nevertheless aided in easing Akira’s nerves. And good lord, if Akechi was doing that to fake out Akira, then it was working. Joker was pushed away from the controls and Akira had taken it back.

Finally, their eyes part when Akira can’t help but look down at his twiddling thumbs, Akira definitely knocked Joker unconscious. 

“Because we want, no  _ need _ to help you. You’ve been through hell and you’re still going through it because of Shido, you told me before about your childhood and-”

“And? Spare me the pity Kurusu.”

The words knocked the air out of his lungs and immediately filled it with thick miasma. It felt sickening and it was poisoning his body with fear, even when the miasma theory was just bullshit.

“I- We want to know why you’re doing this. Why you’re so hellbent on revenge.”

Akechi’s brow quirked a bit, a question emerged fresh and new, before he dismissed it with light chuckling.

“Shido is my father, and I, his bastard son.”

The words settled in Akira’s brain, stewing for a few seconds before it clicked together. Shido was the cause of this,  _ all _ of this. It wasn’t just the breakdowns and shutdowns that he was responsible for. It was  _ everyone’s _ suffering here that he was responsible for too.

“But then why? Why side with him?”

A slew of laughter comes out, sinister and maniacal, Akechi has that look of craziness on his face that is wonderfully beautiful despite the lack of sanity in it. He smiles that evil Cheshire smile and it feels as though Akira is now the one backed up in the corner. Count him  _ really  _ scared and horny.

“Because revenge is sweeter the better the plan is. What more is there to it?”

And it’s unsettling, the thought of it because it  _ does _ seem so much more satisfying, but at the same time, he knows this isn’t right. Time for Joker.

“Alright, then how about this? We have a rematch, me versus you. If I win, you join us for real this time. If you win, we will join you in your revenge. And we both know that at this rate, that your plans will not work out if you decide to kill me.”

Laughing a bit, Akechi answered, “Fine, as you say I am on the losing end of this, you  _ have  _ forcibly shown my hand. I might as well. But are you  _ sure _ , you won’t be losing without the help of your team?” 

“I  _ am _ sure, no reason why I would propose this in the first place if I’m against killing. I’d rather have my team behind me for backup so we don’t accidentally kill one another.”

“Hmph, fine. Let’s head to Mementos then.”

Akechi got up, followed by Akira, leaving the rest of the gang confused. 

“R-rematch?! Wouldn’t that mean you fought each other before?” Makoto questioned, flustered and worried, her hands flailing everywhere.

Akechi was already outside, Akira turned around to shrug adding, “We don’t have that much time guys. Coming or what?” His smile a tad bit cheeky, seeing his friends a little lost was a bit fun. Some of them were sputtering out nonsense, some were shell shocked, Ryuji was screaming.

Maybe things were going to keep on looking up. Just maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> akechi go SCHWING SCHWING


	5. blue locks and black & white stripes do not get along well

Okay, so maybe he just had some stupid luck. Just,  _ maybe _ .

Akira had fused Dominion earlier, in preparation of Akechi’s maybe betrayal so that even after this, he’d still have a Persona with a bless skill, but who would’ve thought that the blue-haired and a bit handsome Persona would help this soon?

“As much as I love you, can you STOP USING LAEVATEINN AND RIOT GUN!  _ PLEASE?! _ ” Akira shouted out, his health already below the halfway point.

Still, that didn’t mean that Akechi’s Persona’s giant ass fucking sword didn’t hurt. Because it  _ did _ and it was PAINFUL!

“Seeing as you keep using Dominion where you are just using Kougan mind you, there’s nothing much I can do, BUT LAEVATEINN  _ AND  _ RIOT GUN! SO SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” Akechi snaps back, the last words punctuated over a clean hit from Loki’s giant sword. His health lower than Akira’s but only by a margin. He was smart, he had healing items and those physical attacks had a rebound and that would hinder his ability to beat him so of  _ course,  _ he would heal himself when given the chance.

They were both hunched over, trying to catch their breath as they fought on the railroad of a rest point. 

“This is just a battle of attrition…seeing as Joker has healing skills and Crow has healing items…They both have attacks that are weak to the other too,” Makoto commented, her eyes trained on them while a study notebook laid on her laps. 

Haru and Ann played around with Morgana, a little foxtail in Ann’s hand. The older chancing a look at the two, another wave blasts through with another round of shouts, “I must add, Crow is quite strong.”

Another blast of energy fires off, a Megiodolan licks at the platform. The light blinding and everyone looks away just in time before being blinded by the magical nuke. 

“Honestly, why don’t one of them give up at least? We’ve been here for half an hour already. If we weren’t at a rest point I’m like decently sure we would’ve been killed by the Reaper already.”

Shouts ring out, Akechi swearing not as much as a sailor but his wisecracks draw more of Akira’s flirtatious nature.

Morgana, entranced with the foxtail in Ann’s hand, kept trying to catch it, eliciting snickers from the pair. He snapped back to reality and coughed before sitting down and a bit flustered, “He felt normal before, like you guys. But now, he feels more like Joker, kind of a mix of a normal Persona user and a special one.” 

Ryuji laid on three of the seats on the bench, head propped up by his hand as he watched them lazily, “He  _ does _ have two of em. Was kinda worried at first, but they just keep healing themselves and attacking and all that shit. At least Akechi’s not actually some effing stuck up prince shit, hearing him swear sounds waaay better.”

A pencil held by blue gloves, Yusuke’s desaturated dark blue eyes stare into the battle. Another blast of Kougan knocks the wind out of Akechi, Akira taking advantage of the break to heal up. And another chance for Yusuke to capture the battle more accurately. 

“Code names, Skull. It would be preferable for nobody to find out about this. Especially Shido,” Yusuke had his eyes on the battle, his hand sketching away at the fight before him, “Though I must agree, hearing expletives come from Crow does sound refreshing. But I believe his princely self is still himself, just a different version, take it like how Joker is. Joker is a mirror to Crow’s puddle of water.”

Akechi does the same exact thing, instead attacking with Riot Gun which unfortunately lands a critical hit, basically erasing all the health Akira had healed up. He heals and it’s Akira’s turn again.

Ryuji groaned more, he looked over at Futaba who had her eyes trained on her laptop, “Yeah, yeah, I know. Hey, Oracle, don’t ya think that the codename Crow fits him better now?” 

“Course. Still can’t get over him being an emo edgy candy cane though. Super cringe, he better be thankful that I can’t share this online,” Futaba quipped, she was scrolling through documents. Courtesy of Akechi and his drive full of her mother’s research. Upon finding a certain name, her eyes widened, “What in the…? Guys come over here real quick, found something, and uhhh, think you guys should see it.”

Everyone grouped around Futaba, abandoning their eyes from the battle to look at Futaba’s screen. As Laevateinn slams down on Akira again, another strong blast hits them, blowing hard against Yusuke’s sketchbook pages, the artist quickly shuts it so as to not let any of the pages tear.

“Was looking at through the drive Crow gave me when we were coming down here, said it was my mom’s research that was all deleted. I, uh, guess he wanted to save mom’s research, probably should thank him…Anyhow! I was looking at each UC that was backing the research and  _ apparently _ Maruki, that counselor you guys had for half a year studied cognitive psience for a bit? His name’s redacted from most of this, but I managed to dig around for any deleted names that weren’t perma gone yet and found it.”

“Strange…what relations does he have to your mother’s research?” Makoto replied she skimmed over the report in front of her.

“He  _ did _ come to Leblanc once and talk about it, which was sorta weird and all. Nobody really knows a lot about cognitive psience…and I uh got carried away talking to him so I never asked...” Futaba added.

“Most likely he was researching it and then it was plucked from his hands by one of Shido’s lackeys and given to your mother. Your mother is indeed a genius, probably far more adept at it than Maruki. How she managed to find it in her hands is still beyond me.” Akechi quipped, his tired figure leaning on the doorway. 

They were both leaning on the train stop doorway, both of them had their masks off and away. Akechi baring his tired and very messy complexion with stray strands of chestnut brown hair everywhere. Akira with his sharp eyes fully revealed without the mask, looking a bit tired, but not as tired as Akechi who’s makeup wore off mid-fight, showing the world or rather just the Phantom Thieves his dark eye bags. 

Akira added, “He does know we’re the Phantom Thieves, said he was going to finally submit that paper on cognitive psience. And that he wanted to make everyone happy using the Metaverse.”

“Oh, pray tell me how on Earth the police have yet to found you. But…Everyone happy? That would be just blatant brainwashing, nothing more. And how would he even achieve such a goal, as you said he was just some part-time counselor that your school hired to cover their asses,” he remarked, agitated by the idea of it. A small chuckle left Akira as he heard those words, classic Goro Akechi after all. If their rematch taught them anything is that Akechi has way more to him than that Detective Prince mask.

“True, it’d mean that that bastard Kamoshida and whatever he did would probably go away which isn’t right,” Ann added, she looked a bit somber, reminiscing on Shiho. She turned back, pointing at the two and noticing finally that neither are hurt, “And uh, who won?”

“I did,” Akira answered, a smug smile on his face, “Crow forfeited.”

“Only on the account that I had already seen where a battle of attrition would go. I’m not one for wasting materials and it was most likely that I would run out sooner than he would. It was just simple cost-benefit analysis,” Akechi interjected with a small bite, though his words no longer dripped with the same venom during their negotiation.

“Don’t you also have Robin Hood, why don’t you just use him?” Ryuji asked, which made Akechi’s face curl more into disgust.

Akechi facepalmed, his sharp gloves digging a bit into his skin. He could only sigh and hold back on his anger a bit, “It’s like slapping someone with a soggy piece of bread as opposed to using I don’t know, a bat? The only thing my other Persona has any use for is healing, and even then it’s a party-wide revival,  _ not _ healing.”

“Hmmm, still sketchy sketchy why you still forfeited~” Futaba hummed, “But um, thanks for saving mom’s work on this drive…” Akechi reacting with a huff and muttering a bit.

Ignoring her words, he looked at the scenery and scoffed, “I’d rather leave this decrepit place, staying any longer will only irate me.”

Everyone could only agree, hoping into the Mona bus and driving back up to the top level. The drive was quiet, save for some idle chatter and snacking. The air around was a bit awkward, a bit brittle.

But it was getting…better at the very least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG!! im bad at writing fight scenes and honestly was down in the dumps for a while. next chapter might come earlier than usual but i can't guarantee that


	6. rolling balls, oiling cogs, and after that a trip to the bathhouse

As the bus rattled with the train tracks underneath, causing the car to shift constantly, Akechi held his hand steady to a makeup brush. Everyone else minds their own business but Ann can’t help but watch the Detective Prince work away effortlessly despite all the bumps.

Deft hands, gloved red as he changed back to his Robin Costume for the sake of convenience, closed the small bottle of concealer, and returned it to Akechi’s pocket. With no slight of disturbance under Ann’s stare(he knows she’s staring, it’s easy to feel the gaze of others after accustoming himself to it), he searches for his phone only to remember how it met its untimely demise.

A click of his tongue and he looks over to Ann, rusty brown eyes causing sky blue to freeze the moment they meet, and starts, “Seeing as you kept staring at me, Takamaki-san, mind telling me if I missed any spots?”

“Oh! Um, no. Nope, you didn’t miss any spots,” She laughs, the only thing helping her out is her mask and even then it doesn’t mask the flustered tone she has, “S-sorry for staring, it’s just that I don’t really know any guys good with makeup, besides the makeup artists at my agency…”

“Hmph,” He switched from looking at Ann to watching the scenery of Mementos slowly pass by, “It’s something I had to learn when I started the hits.”

A question is suddenly on Ann’s tongue and she doesn’t know what to say. Is she supposed to be blunt? Sugarcoat it? Akechi was a fickle subject and she didn’t know how to talk to him without stepping on a landmine. She can barely muster herself to say anything.

“Why though…?”

“Makeup is the only way I can hide the imperfections on my face. Words aren’t enough quite a lot of the time, especially under the eyes of cameras. And especially in my beginning years of working with Shido.”

His tone is sarcastic and Ann can’t help but not grimace. Despite his tone, his words were so cynical. But none were lies at the very least.

“Do you not sleep enough?”

“School, foster homes, I’ve never gotten the right amount of sleep. You ought to not worry though, it’s been like this for years so what’s a few months more?”

Ann has no replies to his words, but that didn’t deny her understanding of him.

When they leave the depths of Mementos and reconvene at Leblanc before leaving, Haru and Futaba are in front of him with a brand new phone and the rest of them in the back watching him. Akechi gives them a look, with him being a Detective Prince surely enough they thought he was well not and he always was the first to leave so what of this? (He wasn’t though, he barely spends any on himself, opting to spend to make his image better)

“I doubt the need to offer me a new phone if I must comment.”

“Take it as a peace treaty, a show of our alliance,” Futaba answers, leaving the Detective Prince more troubled. There was no point to it, so why?

“It is still bugged. We decided that it’d be far easier to keep track of you this way. Though Futaba-chan did add some enhancements to it as well as adding the Meta Nav back to your phone.”

His laugh is dark, he grabs the phone with his gloved fingers. The device clearly newer and the Meta Nav is already back on. The two girls watch him pensively and with slight fear muddled in with muted anger. 

“It’s quite nice, save for the bug. I’d be lying if I wasn’t thankful, it’d be annoying waiting for the app to add itself back. So, many appreciations Okumura-san, Sakura-san.”

A little surprised by the gratefulness he expressed, they stood still for a bit. Akechi assumed his leave and turned around to walk towards the station.

“B-before you leave, I must ask. Why did you commit all of those…breakdowns and shutdowns?”

The voice catches Akechi mid-walk. He lets out a small laugh before turning around with an answer and a smile on his face.

“I hadn’t known that my actions would cause those deaths. And for any consolation, I do apologize for their deaths and I will be turning myself in. Though if you would like me to now, I have no qualms to deny such a request.” 

Despite his harsh voice and his tone, Haru couldn’t help but see something within him. Futaba looked up to her and Haru could only nod. A wordless agreement.

The moment Akira stepped into the cafe with Morgana in tow, having waved everyone goodbye, the smell of coffee instantly filled his nose. He flicked on the lights, setting Morgana down on one of the tables and went forward to reheating the curry for dinner.

The night was sluggish, his blood that was pumping full with adrenaline was now emptied. Leaving him exhausted. 

“I know you’re tired and all, but you should wash up before sleeping, Akira,” Morgana says, clawing at his legs lightly in attempts to keep the boy awake. 

“Mmm, yeah I know…”

Dragging himself to the bathhouse, his muscles that were tense from the fight, relaxed. As much as the battle was a bit…stupid with both of them using only two moves at best, it was still exhausting. A roll of his neck and a series of pops cracked, another crick satisfied. 

“Nothing can really beat a good bath after today…”

There was only one other person at the bathhouse and it was the old man. The one who’d always be turning up the hot water. Akira had muttered a “Thank god.” as he saw the elder finally relaxing instead of adding more hot water. Quickly, he scrubbed away at today’s grime and sweat, leaving his body clean to dip into the water.

Sinking into the water, he let the warmth soak in. Peace was an unfounded joy in his hectic life. His weekly trips to the bathhouse gave him those moments of reprieve with Morgana relatively far away. Some time to just settle down and calmly go through each of the thoughts and memories he filed away for later analysis. 

_ “Shido’s his dad and the reason why I’m on probation…” _

It felt a bit surreal. Like what were the chances? The chances that Akechi’s sorry excuse father was Shido? That the guy he apparently “assaulted” (he definitely should have now that he thought about it) was Shido?

_ “It’s like God made us some sort of fated rivals or lovers. Hope it’s lovers…probably?” _

Yeah…probably…

It wasn’t exactly love at first sight…more of just him falling in love with everything about him… like whenever Akechi would smile a little bit more when eating sweets, or whenever he was at Leblanc and the golden light cast upon him made him look so angelic, or the times he got a little more competitive in their little battles. Everything about him was just… so  _ perfect _ . 

Letting himself sinking more so into the water, he contemplated all of it as his curls got wetter. 

He loved every little thing about him. His chestnut brown hair, his rusty brown eyes. His politeness, his bluntness. And those lips and gloves of his that he wishes to kiss a hundred times over. 

Whenever listless days of school take over, his mind fills with daydreams of taking Akechi to some cafe, hand in hand, or riding the Ferris wheel with him, a little smooshed together to ease each other’s fear of heights.

Dreams of happiness, but reality was cruel. Akechi already said it.

_ “I’m going to be entirely honest with you: I hate you.” _

So that “probably” was a “probably not.”

“Young man?”

At the shake of his shoulders, he instantly shot up, senses alert. Realizing that it was just the old man, he sunk back down into the water, chin touching the water again.

“S-sorry about that…”

Soft hearty laughter fills his ears, lifting his head to face the old man again, “Don’t worry, I noticed yer always here on Thursdays and sometimes I see you real tired on these days. Today especially.”

“Oh, it’s just exams and all that stuff…nothing too much…”

“Yer sure it’s just school? Cause you looked like a smitten fool at first.”

“I-! I, uh-”

His face turned beet red and the only thing saving him from further embarrassment was sinking even deeper into the water while staring back at the old man who was a bit too smug for his liking.

“Don’t worry your toots ‘bout it. Just say it and git over it kid. If ya don’t you’ll regret it later.”

“The uh, person I like doesn’t exactly like me…and I think we’re good as friends…”

“Then why’d ya like em in the first place? And why whoever the hell you like yer friend in the first damn place?”

His eyes glued back to the water right beneath him, what was he supposed to say? 

“I... don't know. Like, he talked about his life, told me who he really was, and like, I just… don't know…we had some fun times hanging out but…”

“A boy, eh? Ha… time really do change countries. Never in my entire life did I think kids like you would be so open. I’ll tell you this, tell him. You go tell him, tell him how much yer in love with him. I ain’t tellin’ ya to man up, I’m telling you to just do it. Gut feeling of mine says that kid you like likes you back too.”

His mouth slacks open and his eyes widen. Just do it, huh? Light chuckles escape his lips, his skin prune from the water. 

“I’ll try.”

The old man smiles at him, very smugly, and Akira could only laugh. 

Cogs turned, handles moved, marbles rolled. A Rube Goldberg machine working away despite lack of intervention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god damn school finally ended, the last project killed me


	7. promises, promises, and breaking stained glass with a hammer

ryuji said we aren't the PTs  
  
the BRO  
saying this here so that akira won't know but like never thought we'd be siding with akechi and also  
  
what are we gonna do with akechi after all of this?  
  
fist of the north star  
If his crimes are uncovered, he will be trialed in the court of law as an adult. I for one would favor him in turning himself in, however there is a high chance he will be given the death sentence. That I...have no comment on.  
  
feed me  
I myself have no comment on this as well. And I believe it to be wrong of me to tell him what he should do, seeing as I was never personally affected by Akechi.  
  
sugary haru ice tea  
To be quite honest, I believe that at the very least he shouldn't die. Futaba-chan and I had asked him why he had commited all those crimes.   
  
His answer was that he never knew that by killing someone's Shadow that it would cause their death, I would presume that the psychotic breakdowns was something he had found and used in attempts to soften the effects...  
  
FckingGremlin  
he also gave me that driver and like, it has EVERYTHING, didn't look at everything yet but like i found some sus ass fuck files under his name  
  
besides that, he probably went through a shit ton of work just to save all that work before it just evaporated and he didn't even really need to like none of the shit on the drive would've helped him  
  
womANNizer  
also like he never gets enough sleep and he prob hides it all under his makeup which is NOT healthy  
  
the BRO  
oh yeaaah he said that yesterday, thought he was some stuck up prick who likes his sleep  
  
and he dropped some MAJOR hints abt it  
  
fist of the north star  
I agree. Akira? What are your thoughts on this? You've yet to give your answer on this.  
  
hmmm. I think we should talk about this after we get over this. we still got Makoto’s sister’s heart to steal, amright?  
  
FckingGremlin  
here’d i would say that youre being a fucking coward and skimping out on this but tbh i dont really wanna talk abt it here  
  
suagry haru ice tea  
Seconded, and I feel like we should still consult Akechi-kun on this matter. It would be rude to talk behind his back on such an important matter even after all he has done.  
  
fist of the north star  
Very well.  
  
Lunch is about to end so let’s talk once more after school. Which means no texting during class.  
  
feed me  
Duly noted.  
  
fist of the north star  
And that especially true for you, Akira. You might be placing top for your class, but that doesn’t mean you get to slack off.  
  
yes m’am….  
  


“Man, I keep forgetting that you’re like the top of the class. How the eff do you even do it?” Ryuji said, giving Akira a look of confusion.

Akira shrugs and takes one more bite out of his lunch and adds, “I studied.”

“For real? But like you’re always the one buying all our shit, and I’ve seen you at that ramen place in Central street AND at 777!” Ryuji shouts, getting another shrug from him.

Ann takes a bit of her snack and adds, “And at that flower shop in the underground mall too.” 

“Yeah! So how do you do it all?”

And all Akira offers is a shrug and the bell rings before any more complaints get out.

“Seems like the bell rang, wouldn’t want to make Queen upset riiiight?

School was monotonous, the day of the heist was predetermined and it was finally time.

“Alright, everyone knows what’s going to happen after this right?” They’re in the safe room right in front of the Treasure room. Security levels were high and even within the confines of said safe haven, red lights blared wildly giving a sense of unease.

Ryuji quickly asks, recalling the last parts of their plan, “We’ll lay low after all of this blows over and once you give the go-ahead we’ll meet up again, right?” 

A quick nod is all Akira gives, everyone else nodding along with Akechi huffing in agreement of course.

With a confident smile, he pushes open the doors, “It’s showtime!”

The battle starts and they’re thrust into a game propped up by Sae’s Shadow. A one-sided game that Akira and Akechi saw through almost instantaneously. A clean shot towards the glass lid sends Sae’s Shadow into a mad rage, her elegant though very revealing outfit turning into a large tall monster that wields a Gatling gun and a rusty blade. Her body turned to mismatched steel and iron and spikes protruding from her shoulders. 

Everyone couldn’t help but shudder in fear, Makoto especially horrified at the sight and falling to her knees.

“Sis…!” Fear was evident on her face despite her mask, her red eyes trained onto the beast that was her sister, “This…is my sister’s true nature?!”

An exasperated sigh leaves Akechi’s lips, his gloved hands, sharp as they were, gently lifted her arm up. 

“Stand. The moment you awoke to your Persona was the moment you decided you wouldn’t falter. You’re no longer that goody two shoe girl who sucked up to those rotten adults before, or have you gone back to being such?”

Makoto quickly shook her head, everyone kept their eyes on Sae’s Shadow but still paid attention to the two. She steadied herself and all the fear and hesitation within her washed away.

“No, I was done playing nice at Kaneshiro’s palace. I won’t let another adult dictate my life!” 

The fight was grueling, the roulette still played and luck wasn’t always on their side, sometimes costing their stamina or health when they lost a bet. But with one final Freidyne from Makoto, the monstrous form of Sae finally crumbled, reverting back to its normal look.

Everyone collapsed, their stamina at an all-time low.

“God, here I thought Queen was scary. Her sister’s downright TERRIFYING!” Ryuji shouted, his back to the floor, his hand holding an empty Snuff Soul.

Ann took a sip from a thermos filled with Akira’s coffee, “Seriously…that giant sword was not something I wanted to hit me…”

“She is indeed quite the respectable woman…” Akechi nursed his cup of coffee, looking over to Futaba, “Also, I’ve sent the signal to the police, they should be starting their raid soon.”

“Alright, lemme double-check…” Futaba had her navigation propped up, her hands running wild against the holographic keyboards. “Crow, you really weren’t lying when you said how many were gonna come! We need to leave soon!”

Everyone nods, turning towards Joker as they say their goodbyes.

Haru starts, her hands clasped and already Akira feels a bit guilty, “Please don’t do anything reckless…” 

“I won’t forgive you if you die! And Crow, make sure he gets out of the investigation room safely!” Akira nods to Ann’s words and Akechi huffs in compliance.

Morgana jumps up, catching Akira’s attention, “We still haven’t fulfilled our deal yet, so don’t go dying now!”

“The numbers are only getting bigger!” Futaba scrolls through all the video feed from Prometheus, “We _have_ to go now!”

Yusuke grimaces, his voice neutral but the pain is noticeable, “This is a truly painful and reluctant parting…”

“Unless you lot wish to dawdle more, we ought to listen to Oracle and leave now,” Akechi remarks, sharp words with a bit of bite behind them. 

Makoto glances at her sister again before turning back and nodding, “We’ll see you later.”

“Alright, here’s hoping Crow holds up to the deal?” Akira winks, offering Akechi a smirk. He really was more confident in the Metaverse.

The black-masked man scoffed, throwing back an even cockier smirk, “I may be a killer, but I know how to keep my word. Now go, _leader_ , and don’t let yourself get killed.”

Akira nods and everyone goes their way. 

Soon he was left alone, only his grappling hook at his side to help aid him. 

He glides effortlessly, jumping from one ceiling light to the other. His footsteps beating on the ground as quickly and quietly as possible. His teammates' voices crackled through the earpiece, praises, and advice with sounds of radio static over them. 

After taking down another Shadow, he jumped up to the balcony and followed Futaba’s directions, leading him into the staff area. 

He weaves through the maze-like area with ease, Futaba giving him directions as to where to go. Akira quickly spots a guard, obvious it won’t move anytime soon from the looks of it.

His earpiece crackles to life again, “Seems like Joker is at an impasse, shouldn’t there be another route he can take?”

“I know, I know. I’m looking for another route! Oh! Yes! There should be something your grappling hook can bring you to. There’s a walkway just above you, get up there and I’ll send you the new route out!”

Without a second of hesitation, he shoots the steel wire towards the ceiling, the hook catching onto the ledge above and pulling him upward. He flips backward, landing on his feet and resuming his escape.

“Joker, stop!” Futaba’s voice stops Akira in his tracks, his eyes trained for any enemies when 4 Shadows burst from the ground.

_“Shit, I'm surrounded…”_

“You’re surrounded, try and escape the battle when there’s an opening…Wait, I’m getting another signal, watch out!”

Long red hair held up in a ponytail and long black coat trails were all Akira needed to know who it was.

Her voice is loud and clear, the rapier at her side glints under the light, “I’ll end this right now.”

“Kasumi. But how…?”

With elegance, she shoots her rapier right in his direction, the sword flies past him and soars right into the chest of the Shadow behind him. He watched her quickly dispatching most of the ones surrounding him, shooting them as she danced around, avoiding each of them by a hair.

Her heels click louder and louder as she walks towards him, her legs kick at the rapier implanted inside of the Shadow, killing that one. Before he could even blink, she quickly rips off her mask and uses Vorpal Blade, killing the rest. 

“I have no clue what the hell just happened, but as long as you’re safe I guess? Wait…you got more surrounding you right now, get out _now_!” 

Akira looks at Kasumi, she gives him an understanding nod, “I’ll hold them off for as long as possible. I’m sure there’s something you need to do as a Phantom Thief, no?”

“Yeah, sorry about it.” 

She smiles, her eyes crinkle underneath the mask, “Then go. I’m not a Phantom Thief so I won’t interfere. Just remember about that promise of ours, senpai.”

He nods, quickly turning around as Kasumi jumps up the crates.

As he runs, his earpiece comes back alive again, this time Akechi is talking.

“A promise, hm?”

“It’s nothing really.”

“Whatever you say.”

Climbing up the stairs two at a time, leading him to a balcony that looked over the entirety of the casino. Clambering noises of his pursuers and the knocking of chips floods his ears. As he hears the metal doors behind him slam open, he quickly looks at the stained glass. 

With a smirk, he runs along the ledge, quickly reaching the glass within no time. And right before he jumped, he flashed a cheeky grin, causing the men in black suits to shout in anger.

Softly, he lands on his feet like a cat, glass sprinkling beside him. Then glaring spotlights shine on him and everything comes to its finish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i cant go on without writing using html, rich text is convenient and all but making chat logs is just _satisfying_
> 
> also scream at me or smth at [here](https://twitter.com/GrilledKoi) or [here](https://twitter.com/AxoKoi) im more active on the first one but i also want to shamelessly promote my art


	8. The Hammer that Finally Comes Down Upon the Chains.

“...I see,” Sae looked like she was still contemplating, putting pieces together, slowly, but surely, “So that’s what led to you ending up here.”

“What a disappointing end to the hero of justice.”

His head was pounding. The desk warmed under his touch, the metal no longer cold on his bruised hands. The prosecutor sitting in front of him was enough air conditioning for him, keeping her cold steady glare at him.

_“Not like I really care...drugged up and hurting every-fucking-where, no more fucks to give obviously.”_

“I do have a suggestion though,” that wakes Akira up a little, “Care to strike a deal? If you cooperate with me, I’ll consider lightening your sentence.”

“A deal…?” He could barely slur out the words, his tongue still was only just barely working with him. It was a miracle he managed to speak so long.

“I have a responsibility to solve this case. I will win, even if it meant brokering a deal with you,” he did not like the sound of this, _“Sojiro was right when she knew how to piss people off…”_ despite his subtle annoyance, she continued, “Your operation failed, and you failed to changed my heart. There’s no point in being obstinate now.”

Oh, he _really_ did not like the sound of this. 

“You’ve corrupted the order of this country and caused an uprising against its very existence. You’ll most likely be given life imprisonment or the death penalty...unless you accept my proposal.”

Oh, what he would do for Goro Akechi to come in and put a bullet into his skull already. That was the plan, right?

“Going forward, I will read a list of people who are closest to you and the case. Tell me honestly whether or not the following are involved with the Phantom Thieves,” she looks down, her notes scrawled out neatly, but evidently so still hasty, “First, the friend who you’ve been with since the day you transferred to Shujin, Ryuji Sakamoto. 

“One of the victims of the Kamoshida case, Ann Takamaki. 

“Ichuryusa Madarame’s pupil, Yusuke Kitagawa.

“The daughter of Wakaba Isshiki, Futaba Sakura.

“The heiress of Okumura Foods' legacy and daughter of its CEO, Haru Okumura. And...”

She listed each one of them without a scant of care, but…

_“She’s still her little sister. Probably why she's so hesitant."_

A moment of hesitation, obvious desire to not list her sister, lest her career and her sister’s future come tumbling down with no mercy, “...the frequently-probing student council president of Shujin, Makoto Nijima.”

When she looks back up, her face is back to neutrality, _“Comes with being a prosecutor I guess.”_

“Those are your accomplices in the Phantom Thieves case, are they not?”

_“Couldn’t she have just said the names or something…”_

He rubs his eyes and shakes his head, “Nah…never heard of any of em…”

Her brows twitch, lowering down to a scowl, “So you won’t sell out your friends…then let me change the question. 

“...I find it hard to believe that high schoolers could have pulled off these crimes themselves. Were there not others outside of your direct group who encouraged your crimes or lent their aid?”

_“The fuck…? Selling out Yoshida? Or Iwai? Or Sojiro? They’re my 2nd dads, the actual fuck?”_

“Not to repeat myself, but remember your life will be forfeit if your sentence is not lightened,” she adds, reminding him of his impending doom.

_“No shit. Don’t mean I’m gonna sell out Ohya, she’s just a fucking alcoholic. Definitely not Shinya, still haven’t helped him out yet. Tae’s already got shit for quote en quote failed and almost killed Miwa."_

“...You had the cooperation of people outside your group, did you not? Can you tell me about them?”

_“Kawakami’s a nope, be weird if the cops found out she was helping me out by being a maid. Probably call me a fucking pervert. Chihaya’s a country girl, not a prison one. Mishima’s midget, a bit of a dunce honestly, but he’s gone through way too fucking much already.”_

Akira shakes his head, his vision still a bit blurry from the drugs. It was only starting to get clearer, “What group? Worked alone, there were no such people.”

She scoffs, “...I see. So you won’t speak a word about either your teammates or your collaborators? Do you even understand the position you're in right now?

“...Let’s discuss one other person, Goro Akechi.

“There are reports that he was acting alongside the Phantom Thieves as well. Might he be a part of your team too?”

_“Mmmm, Goro…”_

“Him? Nope.”

“So Goro Akechi wasn’t one of yours. Very well,” she didn’t sound relieved, still neutral, _“Guess she doesn’t care about him as much as she does with Makoto.”_

“...So be it. You clearly have no intention of bargaining with me.”

He chooses to be silent, too tired to care and too caring to sacrifice. 

“Even now, you’re still acting as a hero of justice? Your teammates have sacrificed you in order to escape, yet you still wish to defend their honor?” her words are prickly, undoubtedly to rile him up, _“Trust, Sae. Trust.”_

“Why won’t you talk about them?”

“Goes against justice and it’s a damn dirty tactic.”

Sae slams the table, it barely gets him to flinch, the drugs dampening his response twofold, “Don’t be ridiculous! You’re not the one to decide such things!”

Her voice rings in his head, like an echo in a cave, “You call this justice?”

“...justice,” another moment of hesitation, “...Then tell me! What is this “justice” you speak of?”

“Sticking to the right path.”

Calm again, Sae sits back down and crosses her arm, she repeats his sentence and plasters a statement to it, “Sticking to the right path…? That’s no different to us!” a sigh escapes her lips, “You continue to stand firm…Are you implying that we have no evidence on you?

“...You’re right, we have nothing. Doesn’t help that your story sounds like it’s ripped straight from a story tale!

“But many people have fallen victim to this! We need to learn the truth.”

Another sigh escapes her, Akira notes her tire, they’ve been in here for several hours and if any sane man were to hear his story, he was pretty sure he’d be sent straight to the asylum.

“I...don’t even know what’s right anymore. What’s the truth? And it’s all due to your strange out of this world story!”

“Are you really quitting here?”

“After all of this, you’re still-!”

A few blinks, and clarity slowly returned, the muddiness drowning his mind hosed down, _“Guh, finally can see straight now…”_

“Are you listening? The side effects of the truth serum should be wearing off. I won’t be deceived by such a poor act,” Sae says, her voice cool.

_“Won’t be deceived…I…I definitely forgot something important…didn’t I?”_

Memories flit past him. Pancakes, Morgana telling him about them right after Akechi blackmailed them. A deal…a _deal._ A _rematch_. 

“-nfortunately...my time has run out…although I find your story to be quite interesting, I won’t be able to speak with you any longer.”

A small chuckle leaves Akira’s bruised lips, Sae looks at him questioningly.

“You giving up?”

There’s a silence that permeates between them. It brews and it’s tense, only for him though. In a snap second, the thunder-like realization plunges into the ground.

“...huh? What are you getting at? But yes, you’re right. No matter the results of this case, I won’t be receiving credit. I even had to call in a large favor to conduct this interrogation.”

Interrogation room. It sits in his mind, festering as jabs of “what” poke into it. His memories start reviving themselves.

“Hey- Hey? Are you listening? Our times up. We’re done talking here. Goodbye.”

“Why did you come here?”

“Why…?” she quickly answers, “Because this is my job. Don’t ask me such odd questions.

“Anyhow, there’s one last thing I want to ask you. There’s something that’s been bothering me for some time. 

“Recently I was removed for my post as head of this investigation and was told to remain on standby. 

“A short while later, I received word you were caught in the act…within some bizarre phenomenon. But that was all I was told.

“You were told someone sold you out, correct? If that’s correct, who could it have been? Don’t you have any idea…?”

_“I…I forgot, something. What did I-”_

A memory plays in his head. The answers are there and yes, _yes_. That’s what he needed to do.

_Morgana looks at him, his voice all Captain Obvious like, “The smartphone, duh. We’ve been talking about it this whole time.”_

The memory ends and Sae moves closer, “What’s wrong?

“Might you have an idea as to who sold you out…?”

“Remembered a few...things.”

“A few…?” instantly her fists slam the desk, Akira still doesn’t flinch even if majority of the drug lost its effect already, “If you know something, you must tell me! I won’t allow things to end like this!”

He glances at his phone, the steel-like case mirrors the light into his eyes. Sae’s dark crimson eyes follow his eyes to the phone, “The confiscated item…”

“Confiscated…you mean this phone? It’s yours, isn’t it? I’ve been told the lock on it is quite complicated. But, it’s only a matter of time until it’s cracked,” she gives him a questioning look, “What’s so important about this smartphone? Are you going to unlock it and show me the data?”

It’s Morgana again, and Futaba, and…someone else. 

_“We’ll need to find out a way to show him the phone, you’ll have to figure that out. I’m talking about you know who,” a scoff comes from that other person, he sees a coy smile._

_Another voice, one that he can barely recognize. It’s familiar but so foreign, “You know. Me? The traitor? The true culprit?”_

“Hey…” her look is dejected, taking an interest at the table. Her voice is strained, desperation was leaking, “What are you trying to get at here? And what about your smartphone?”

“Show it to the traitor.”

“The traitor?”

Her hands slam down on the table once more, this time more gently. She was desperate.

“Please. I need you to be clear with me! Who am I supposed to show this to?”

His grey, steel grey eyes stare at her, and Akira answers, “Already told you.”

“What do you-” her eyes widen, “My god…You’re referring to him, aren’t you?”

“Just...just show it…” 

The drug was nearly out of his system, but that didn’t mean exhaustion wasn’t getting at him. 

“That’s...it…?

“What are you even plotting? I can’t even begin to fathom it.” She laments, _“Nobody would”._

Outside, the guard knocks heavily on the metal door. A clear signal of her needed exit, “...But it appears my time is up. This is as far as our conversation goes. This will be my last involvement with this case.”

A laugh escapes her, amused and a bit humored although still a bit confused.

“...Very well. I’ve listened to your whole story, so I may as well play along to the end. And that honest look in your eyes…” she pauses a bit, only for a second, “I used to view the world in those same exact eyes, once. So I'll place my bet on you. I just need to show him the phone right?”

From the back of his mind, the sound of chains breaking apart sounds along with the soft calm voice he has heard for so many times. 

Another sigh comes as another round of banging gets her moving, “I’ll be going now.”

He watches her leave, hearing a mutter from her, the words so close, yet too soft to reach his ears.

Seconds pass by and his heart is beating in his ear. Slowly, his eyes meet those of dark red, almost blood-like, eyes. And the bubble bursts. That same bubble he was poking at with all the questions he could possibly ask.

_“Oh.”_

_“I get it now._ **_That’s_ ** _our plan.”_

A Cheshire smile grows on him.

“Took you long enough.”

Soft listless laughter is the other’s reply, “My apologies.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sips tea* 
> 
> what ever could be happening here oh i wonder
> 
> also scream at me or smth at [here](https://twitter.com/GrilledKoi) or [here](https://twitter.com/AxoKoi) im more active on the first one but i also want to shamelessly promote my art


	9. what's the difference between bouldering and climbing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god i hate rich text, but it makes copy and pasting stuff from docs to ao3 so much easier....

From Akira’s point of view, Akechi has with him a leather case, unlike his normal metal attache case. He places it on the table and the familiar flick of a black tail is all Akira needs. 

Morgana pokes out of the bag and quickly examines Akira’s face, “They really did a number on you, didn’t they…?”

“Mmm, yeah…but don’t worry, I don’t feel drugged up anymore at least. Just tired.”

Exhaustion knocks on the door more heavily than relief. Akechi is more or less silent, his face neutral as he opens the bag to let Morgana out. The cat quickly pawing at his bruised wrists.

“Wish I could use Diarahan on you or something. They gotta hurt a lot, don’t they?”

Akira is silent, mindlessly petting Morgana, and for once the cat has some tact to be quiet and let him just do it.

Akechi on the other hand stares at the multiple syringes on the floor, half of his face covered by his chestnut brown hair.

“Goro…?”

The words prick at the other’s ears, Akechi snaps out of his staring and he quickly turns back to Akira, “We should be leaving now or else we won’t be able to get to Sae-san in time.”

A question licks at Akira’s lips, small curiosity to what has Akechi so unusually quiet, but decides to leave that be, “Yeah.”

He gets up, only to have his brain dizzy itself and spin the world right around. Everything spins and his hand clutching at his head as he feels himself falling.

“Akira!” Morgana yelps. Akechi quickly rushes to catch him before Akira could fall onto the table. 

“It looks like you’re wrong, though that might be my fault for not piecing it together. Your exhaustion from the heist is still in you and…your bruises are…they look painful, here lean on me,” his voice is soft, a little snappy and Akira would laugh if he could at the small traces of sass.

“Please don’t drop me, honey,” Akira jokes, his voice quiet and Morgana just looks at them concerned. Akechi is already maneuvering Akira’s arm onto his shoulders to support him. His nose slightly picked up on Akechi’s shampoo, though by accident.

_“He smells…-_

“Don’t test my kindness.” 

_“-like coffee…”_

A loud banging on the door gives the three a scare, on the other side the guard shouts, “Is anyone in there?”

“Shit, Morgana, your shout was too loud,” Akechi coarsely whispered, already shuffling around his pockets and reaching for his gun as the door unlocked, “You, hide _now_.” 

The cat nods quickly, shuffling back into the leather case.

As the door opens, Akechi has his gun in his left hand, his fingers on the safety trigger already. The guard’s eyes widened.

“A-akechi-kun, when did you get in here? A-and, what, what are you doing with the suspect?”

Without a moment's hesitation, Akechi quickly raises the gun. Now the barrel of the gun meeting eye to eye with the guard. Before the man could grab at his radio, Akechi clicks at the safety trigger. The guard slowly looking up, horror smeared all over his face.

“Hands _up_. And don’t bother screaming, nobody will hear you,” the guard wordlessly nods as he lifts his hands, he quivers under Akechi’s deadly glare and gun. His voice strangely soft and quiet, not loud and violent, but still deadly at the same time.

 _“God, he’s terrifying and sexy at the same time…”_

“P-please, please don’t kill me!”

Akira looks up to Akechi, he barely notices the effortless grace of the Detective slipping on a mask of a killer. 

_“He’s really good at that…”_

The detective laughs, a crude and bloodthirsty one, his smile quickly disappears as he lifts his chin ever so slightly. A means of looking down on someone.

“Today’s your lucky day, officer. You were supposed to be dead, by _my_ hands. But I’m feeling a bit merciful. So leave, go into hiding, if you even dare to make a sound, bang you’re _dead_.”

A wordless nod and the guard rushes out, leaving the three of them alone.

_“That was fast…glad that Goro is on our side, for real this time…”_

Morgana pokes out of the bag, he gives Akechi a look, “You sure that’ll work?”

“I can’t guarantee it, but it’s the best way of disposing of someone without killing them. And I’m quite sure you’d rather me _not_ kill them,” Akechi quips, putting the gun down on the table.

“‘S nice that…you didn’t kill ‘em,” Akira slurs out, his eyes heavy.

Akechi gives him a look amid his search for something, then resumes said search, “Do you want me to carry you on my back? You sound awfully exhausted.”

He shakes his head, eyes closed, “Naaaaaaaaaaaaah, I’m fiiiiiine.”

Akechi gives him another look, “Really now? I’m inclined to not believe you. If anything, I do bouldering in my spare time and it seems like you don’t eat all that properly, so I doubt it would be even a bother for me to carry you.”

“Nope. Nu-uh, no-” a yawn escapes his lips before he could finish his sentence. Which prompts Akechi to sigh and pocket his phone, kneeling and- “Wha- WHAT ARE YOU-?!”

Akechi just lifted him in one go.

Over his shoulders, as if he weighed like nothing to him.

And oh god his face was burning bright red.

“Carrying you, obviously,” he opens the Meta Nav, quickly transporting the three of them to Sae’s palace, “Now, let’s make your grand escape from the clutches of the police, shall we?”

Akira could already feel his smile, his TV perfect smile, his oh so very smug smile that would both grate on his nerves, but could at the same time light his face on fire.

He grumbled at the predicament, but a bit happy that Akechi would do this. 

All in all, a silent trip. Akechi’s walking, rocking him to sleep slowly.

At the sound of jostling, he opened his eyes slightly. Drugs still in his system and exhaustion still weighing him down.

Street lamps zipped past them, the familiar rumble of a car. A hand carding through his hair, gently, and oh, _“Even my mom wouldn’t do that when I was a kid…”_ Eyes slowly adapting to the dark, he could see chestnut brown hair, Akechi’s face looking outside.

“...Goro…?”

“Hm?” Akechi turned around, his hands resting in Akira’s black mop of hair, “Ah, just keep sleeping. No need to worry about anything just yet.”

A yawn left his lips, silently he nodded and drifted back to sleep. 

The next time he woke up, he was more conscious of what was happening.

He was on Akechi’s back, still being carried, though this time piggyback style. They were inside now, no longer in a car, _“Looks like it’s Sojiro’s house.”_

“I can’t say much, but please just take care of him. I’ll be going now.”

It was Sae speaking though the sliding of the door indicated her leave. 

“I- the news wasn’t he supposed to be dead or something?!” 

That was Sojiro, he could hear the confusion and shock in his voice. 

“I must apologize for this...I rather prefer explaining everything to you, but...”

He could hear the guilt in Akechi’s voice, not bothering to move and nestling deeper into Akechi’s shoulder. Akira was still tired, but he wanted to clear stuff up, “Akechi’s…don’t blame him please…”

“Kid…” he could hear Sojiro’s tired sigh, “Alright, I got a guest bedroom. Bring him up there, it’s the second door on the right upstairs. I’ll go get a doctor I know to check up on him.”

Akechi nodded, walking towards the room. Once more lulling him to sleep, the last thing he noticed was the soft plush feel of a mattress underneath him.

When he woke, it was to the jingle of chains and the soft melody of the Velvet Room. As he walked towards the door, the chain to his foot jingled evermore.

“It would seem that you have ‘died’. But why is that?” Igor’s low voice carried an ilk of humor, “It appears that you have forgotten, during the moments that your consciousness was muddled.

“Indeed your death was a necessity to escape your doom. What a tremendous plan. Let us rouse your memories of such.”

Black filled his vision, soon a memory flickered to light. 

It was him and Morgana, right after Akechi had blackmailed him. Both of them talked about how suspicious the Prince Detective was to them. Both decided to have Futaba build a bug and plant it inside of his phone.

Then, another memory flickered. It was that night, 9 days before the heist.

_“Lucky me, if I told Sae this our plan would’ve gone south...”_

He watched himself, pondering and talking to Morgana. 

_It was dark, probably around 1 am. He was questioning whether or not Akechi was the Black Mask they had heard of in prior Palaces. If Akechi was the one behind all the psychotic breakdowns and mental shutdowns._

_“He’s already…planning to you know…kill you so I wouldn’t…I don’t doubt it…why are you asking?”_

_“It’s because I think he’s trying to tell us he_ **_knows_ ** _who is the one behind it all and is trying to get us to do something”_

_“But that doesn’t…make sense though…”_

_He texts Futaba, asking for her to do a complete scan of all the bugs on Akechi’s phone._

The answer was clear, Akechi had other bugs besides Futaba one and it was so much nastier.

_LeBlanc came into view, it was a tense scene. Akechi’s phone was swimming in a bucket of water._

_“Akechi, we know you’re the Black Mask.”_

_Akechi broke into a fit of laughter in a craze. He could hear the hysteria and the cracks of his mask._

_“I doubt I need to see the reason for how you figured it out, with how you have Sakura on your side.”_

_The smile on his face was dangerous, he questioned Akira as to why he told him. The entire scene baffling the Prince Detective._

_“Don’t you remember what you said two days ago? About how the killer was almost certainly being controlled by someone? Quite the confession if I must comment.”_

_“I will admit, it was a cry for help, a pathetic one. However, seeing as how you have disposed of my phone in the most inconvenient methods does prove you did some digging before confronting me.”_

_“Well, that’s why I, the leader of Phantom Thieves, and under a unanimous decision, have decided to recruit you. For real this time. We know enough to propose this to you. Join us, for real this time. We’ll help you take down Shido with you. Plus a new phone.”_

_Another round of laughter sounded, “Quite normally I would say no, but I would like to entertain your thoughts on why you would possibly think that I would even think of joining you to take him down. He is mine alone to rip apart, piece by piece. So what say you, having the thought of convincing me. Sans the phone deal.”_

_Akira explains how everyone had suffered under him. How everything was because of Shido._

_Akechi questions again, still curious and questioning why Akira was willing to help him out, despite all the crimes on his name._

_Then Akechi’s confession comes along, to how he was related to Shido, to why he was doing this._

A deal was struck and a rematch was in place. Said rematch led to Akechi’s forfeit, albeit suspicious as Futaba had stated. Nonetheless, they knew about Akechi's crime and could oust him quickly.

_Once more, LeBlanc flickered into view. Now it was only Akechi, Futaba, Morgana, and himself. Discussing what they were going to do._

He had already remembered bits and pieces, though he kept silent despite knowing what happened.

_“We already know what’s gonna happen, but we’ll review it again. Mostly because I’d rather you have multiple memories of this plan. Since I’m sure they won’t hesitate to use some sort of ‘truth serum’ to get you drugged up and complicit.”_

_Futaba winced, “I hope he doesn't get too badly beat up…anyhow, you’ll have to convince Makoto’s big sis to show your phone to Akechi. We don’t have any other way of getting him inside with Morgana. I’ll kill the bugs for like 15 minutes when Akechi gives the signal, giving him time to use the Meta Nav to get you out without anyone noticing.”_

_“Yes, seeing as Shido was very keen on bugging my phone_ **_again_ ** _, we’ll have to do that. I’ll probably use another excuse to get another after this happens, mostly because if I do it now he is going to get suspicious.”_

_“So yeah. We’ll need to find out a way to show him the phone, you’ll have to figure that out. I’m talking about you know who,” Morgana said, paraphrasing Futaba’s words._

_Akira offered them a look of confusion._

_“You know. Me? The traitor? The true culprit?” Akechi answered._

Everything clicks into place. 

“It seems you finally remember. This ‘game’ is not over yet. There are still things that must be done,” Igor chuckles, the deep voice still gives him the goosebumps, “Though it seems that you have found the culprit behind all of those cases. You’ve changed the ‘game’ and everything that happens from henceforth shall be hazed in uncertainty. What an _interesting_ development.”

The alarm tolls, his departure from the Velvet Room imminent. Darkness pulls him away from the melody of the place.

He finally wakes up, properly this time. The sun peeks through the curtains, heavy as they are, slipping in its hold of blocking the morning out from waking Akira up. His hands support him as he sits up. Hand combing through his black mop of hair, a sigh leaves his mouth.

_“‘You’ve changed the ‘game’ everything that happens from henceforth shall be hazed in uncertainty’ What did Igor mean? How did I change whatever this ‘game’ is?”_

His steel-grey eyes shift to see more, the right uneven due to the weight of someone else. Akira sees Akechi resting, his eye bags still there, though not as heavy as before. 

_“Is Akechi a part of this ‘game’ or something...?”_

Akechi’s eyes flutter open, promptly stealing Akira’s breath and freezing all of his thoughts, “‘kira...?-” a yawn interrupted him, “How are you feeling? No more feelings of lethargy? Or pain perhaps?”

_“Is...is he worried about me?”_

_“Should I say it?”_ he thought, _“But what did Igor mean?”_

Akira shakes his head, deciding to file the thought away for another time. He snickers a bit, “Yeah. But am I hearing right? Is the big bad Black Mask worrying about me?”

A vein popped on Akechi’s forehead as he blushed beet red, though it went unnoticed due to the darkness of the room. He grabbed Akira’s sweater before he could react or even make a sound, Akechi kissed him.

It was a sloppy one, their first kiss. It was desperate, Akira slowly moving his hands up and cupping Akechi’s face. Slowly, it melded into a warm sweet kiss, still a bit awkward, but it didn’t matter. Akira’s lips, a little chapped to Akechi’s fully smooth and soft ones. Time had stopped, in that guest bedroom. Nothing moved, sounded, nothing, just _nothing_ interrupting them.

Soon the ache from lack of air begets their need to part, both of them gasping for oxygen as it fills sweetly into their lungs. Soothing the burning sensation of built-up carbon dioxide. Their faces flush red, hearts thumping in near tandem and equally as loud as the other.

“Yes, yes. I, the big bad Black Mask was worried. Because I _love_ you, you fucking fool. Just _please_ don’t let me enable you to do something like that again.”

A chuckle left Akira’s kiss swollen lips. 

“Sorry, Goro. I love you too.”

And maybe just for a few minutes, their problems washed away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to answer the title's questions, it's the kiss
> 
> i have fantastic answers to questions
> 
> also scream at me or smth at [here](https://twitter.com/GrilledKoi) or [here](https://twitter.com/AxoKoi) im more active on the first one but i also want to shamelessly promote my art


	10. admissions and aquarium tickets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaAAAH IM ALVIE?! ok it took me forever to get my ass to write this and i was doing other shit too

They gravitated towards each other, arms worming their way through and hugging the other. Akira winces a bit at it and Akechi freezes, it takes a few muttered reassurances for the brunet to finally reciprocate the hug fully. Akechi’s breaths are short and quick, his shoulders still tense.

“I’ll be okay, Goro.”

Akechi sighs, it’s a tired one, “I, it’s just…”

“What is it?”

“I…I hate how you made me feel so- so fucking _weak_ ,” Akechi’s arms tighten the embrace, “I hate you. I hate how I love you. I hate it, I hate that I didn’t want to kill you. I hate it. I hate it so, so, _so_ much. I hate how I made myself ready to put a bullet through your skull-” a sniffle breaks through, tears, boiling hot, roll down his cheeks and onto Akira’s sweater, “Hate how you made me think I should stop, stop my plan to shove Shido down onto the ground and make him suffer. I hate it. I hate that you made me feel _happy_ when I was with you. I-

_“And he’s supposed to be the smart one here.”_

A kiss cuts Akechi off immediately, it's slow and sweet. Desperation twinges at the side, but Akira’s hands soothe Akechi through their small caresses. Akira slowly tips backward, letting gravity grab hold of them as they fall on the bed. A soft thump and a few seconds later and they finally part. 

Hot tears roll down Akechi’s cheeks, reddened and flustered, some drip onto Akira’s cheeks, that smile a warm smile that Akechi can’t help but cry more for.

“And I love you too.”

Rusty brown eyes crinkle up a little bit more. Finally letting gravity do its final job, Akechi falls on top of Akira. The raven head lets out a small groan but wraps his arms around Akechi before he could move. The brunet cries, Akira rubs circles, slow and gentle, around his back, giving the occasional kiss on Akechi’s head.

After a few minutes of laying on the bed, they finally get up. Akechi helped Akira out of his school uniform to shower. Soon the bathroom steams up as Akechi brushes his teeth, trying to hold back his blushing self of seeing Akira naked, but ultimately his red face tells all. 

Both finish relatively fast, already walking towards the dining room downstairs. They emerge together, one hand in the other and tear-stained cheeks that faded away only just a bit. Two plates of curry and a Futaba are waiting for them at the small dining table.

“Oh, uh…morning. Sojiro left some curry for you guys, he said that you should probably go and check up after eating. And I’m pretty sure you know that you shouldn’t go out, with how uh you’re ‘dead’ and all that,” Futaba air quotes “death” and continues to eat her curry.

Akechi snorts, humored at the thought, “Curry for breakfast?”

Akira offers him a goofy smile, “It’s a family tradition.”

They settle in, the wonderful smell of curry and coffee fills their noses. Grumbling stomachs draw them to start eating.

“So-” Akira shoveled another spoonful of curry into his mouth, spices tingling against his tongue, as Futaba asked, “-what do we do now?”

“Shido would be the next target. Though of course, we’ll need to talk about the details of it,” Akechi replies, taking another sip of his cup of coffee. 

Akira swallows his bite, his head propped up by his arm, “Mhm, I reeeeally wanna talk about it now, but everyone else is at school and I’m legally dead.”

Futaba laughs a bit, “Well you won’t be after- waaait, Akechi, don’t you have school or something?”

“Doesn’t matter, the teachers don’t bother, they wouldn't want a bad reputation for holding back the Detective Prince after all,” Akechi casually answers, taking another sip of coffee. He then points at the left corner of his lips, “Leftover curry.”

“Oh, thanks,” Akira licks at the smidge of curry on his face, Futaba groans and presses her phone up to her face

“Thank god you didn’t go for the cliche ‘clean and lick it off your finger’ thing,” Futaba quips, her eyes back to her phone.

Akechi in the middle of drinking his coffee, chokes. Akira, doing nothing, starts spewing gibberish. And Futaba just laughs.

Breakfast is a light ordeal. Once they finish, Akira departs for Takemi’s clinic.

The check-up is a bit on the longer side, having to check for any remains of the “truth serum” and making sure that no bone was broken or fractured. 

“You’ll be fine, the bruises will take a while to heal. Other than that, the drugs have been cleared out pretty well, only small traces of them exist,” Takemi sighs, her eyes stare straight into Akira’s steel gray ones, “You really should be more careful. I know you and the Phantom Thieves are good people, but don’t get yourselves killed alright? I was shocked to hear that you died last night.”

He nods a bit gingerly, his hand already scratching at his nape, “Sorry…thanks for helping me though.”

A light chuckle leaves her, her frown now a small smile, “Good. Oh, and wait here for a bit. I have something for you.”

Akira nods again, his eyes wander around, spotting little things that lay around. Playing a small game of “I spy” with himself to wait out Takemi’s search for whatever it is. 

Soon his mind lingered back to Igor’s comment. Of how the “game” had changed. _“What did Igor even mean...?”_ He had only ever heard Igor saying the game was merely progressing, never changing.

_“He said how everything from now on was unpredictable. Doesn’t…doesn’t that mean he knew what was happening beforehand?”_

“-guinea pig? Akira?”

He snaps out of his stupor, Takemi huffs a bit at the sight.

She holds out a small bag, “It’s an experimental drug given refined a bit by the university I’m working with now. I know you buy a lot of Renew-alls so I wanted to make one that’s smaller and easier to carry. It has some minor benefits as well, though not enough for you to take on the daily.”

“W-wow, thanks Takemi,” Akira stammers out, grabbing the small bag.

Takemi huffs, “It’s no big deal, especially for you, my little guinea pig.”

He thanks her again, before exiting the room. Akechi was outside waiting, leaning right next to the door and a quiet scowl on his face.

“Goro? Something wrong?”

Akechi jumps at his name, he looks up and sighs, “It’s nothing.”

Akira replies with a worried look, “Shido was demanding a report by tonight, said I best be there, but I told him a call would be better, I had stated that I needed to confirm whether or not the Phantom Thieves were going to be a hindrance. He’ll be calling me in the evening,” Akechi replies and Akira nods along, “I believe it’d be best to have everyone listen in?” 

“Yeah, you sure about it though?”

Akechi looks down on the floor, thinking, “I might have to use the mute button for Sakamoto-kun though.”

Akira snickers softly to his joke, “Give him some credit, he hasn’t spilled the secret yet at least.”

“True,” Akechi adds, a small smile to his face instead of the low scowl.

Fingers thread together, Akechi’s face dusted light pink, but otherwise a silent walk back to Sojiro’s house.

“You guys are finally baaack, what took you so long?” Futaba drawls, she notices their linked hands, “Were you guys on a date or something?”

Akechi’s face burns red and Akira laughs, “Nah, Takemi had to do a long test to make sure nothing was wrong.”

She gives them an eye, then shrugs, “Sure, well if anything, Akechi-kun! You are coming with me! We still have that interrogation we must continue.”

“Interrogation?” Akira asks, _“Did something happen while I was gone?”_

Futaba shakes her head, “Classified info, all files are super encrypted. Nooow! Come, come suspect! There’s more to be asked,” quickly she whisks away Akechi, who against Akira’s expectations, silently follows along.

“If you’re wondering, it isn’t anything that bad, they were sorta tense at first. I heard them talk about Futaba’s mom and…the stuff that Akechi went through,” Morgana speaks up, he’s perched on the small shoe cabinet, “They’re probably watching Featherman now.”

“Huh, well so long as they’re happy I guess,” he smiles fondly at the idea of Akechi finding people, not just Akira, understanding. A yawn escapes him, _“Probably should sleep a bit…”_

Morgana’s whiskers twitch a bit at the soft yawn, turquoise blue eyes blink unabashedly, “If you’re tired, you should probably sleep. We’ll be meeting up later tonight and you don’t have school to worry about.”

“I’ll do just that.”

When he wakes, it’s to the sound of soft knocking and Akechi’s voice.

“Akira?”

His arm reached upward, stretching his muscles. Akira groans a bit at the stretch, cracking his neck for a satisfying set of noises, “I'm awake. I’m awake.”

The door opens to Futaba and Akechi, Morgana bounding over towards them and into Futaba’s arms.

“Oof, you heavy cat, just let me pick you up next time…” Futaba comments, pinching Morgana’s cheeks.

“We’ll be going ahead of you, it’d be best if we greet everyone first,” Akechi states, fixing cufflinks.

Futaba nods along, “Just sit tight, for now, Akechi said that there might be some agents lurking about double-checking everything and making sure nothing sus is going on. Too bad they don’t know what’s coming for ‘em!”

“Won’t it be suspicious how you’re walking to Leblanc with Futaba though?” Akira asks, _“Really don’t want Goro in trouble for this…”_

“No, regards to any onlookers, they’re employed to look around in the evening. However, they won’t be explicitly looking around Leblanc or any of the other places your friends go about to. I delegated that task to myself,” Akechi smiles and Akira’s heart sighs in relief, “I do not need your concern.”

“I know, but I just wanna make sure. I’ll see you guys later then,” Akira waves, the two waving back as they disappear into the hallway.

Akira waits a bit, his thoughts wandering around and lingering on what Igor had mentioned. Before he could go in any deeper, Sojiro calls for him. Akira rummages for a hoodie, stuffs it on and pulls the hood over his head, and walks over to Leblanc.

When he gets there, the smell of coffee and spices fill his nose again. A familiar home-like feeling rushes into his heart, a smile tugs at the corner of his lips. Sojiro announces his presence with Ryuji and Ann almost tackling him.

“Hey, hey! I got bruises everywhere, no tackle hugs for now,” Akira nearly yelps, Ryuji quickly settles for giving him a half hug.

“And hey you, you big bastard!” Ryuji snarks back, his smile wide and toothy.

“How’ve you been?” Ann asks, everyone crowds near him. Akechi around the back of the crowd, sitting on his usual seat with a cup of coffee in hand. 

“Ghostly,” he jokingly replies, he _was_ fine enough to joke.

She laughs a bit, “You’re not floating though.”

Makoto brushes a stray strand of hair behind her ear, her smile is a relaxed one, “It truly is a relief to see your face.

“But damn, they did a number on you…well, they don’t know what’s coming for ‘em, so it’s payback time!” Ryuji shouts, pumping his fist into the air.

Akechi scoffs, a cocky look on his face as he adds on, “It truly is a wonder how even without a body or a speck of blood, his death certificate was signed away in one go.”

Sojiro groans, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Still though. How’d you even pull this off? Like isn’t this guy considered dead?”

Makoto perks up at that question, then looks at Akechi and Futaba, “You two didn’t tell him? And sis, didn’t you bring him to Boss?” 

“Yeah. She came over and just dumped him here. Then left me with Akechi and told me to keep the two safe,” he sighs, scratching the back of his head, “And it was right after they had announced he ‘died’ too. Almost gave me a heart attack.”

Sae looks down, “Sorry, I didn’t have time to explain.”

“Ah, I should be the one apologizing, Sae-san. I could’ve explained, but I felt that Akira’s well being far outweighed the need for explaining,” Akechi apologizes, wishing to clear up any blames.

Ryuji perks up, understanding Sojiro’s confusion he says, “Hey, shouldn’t we tell Boss what really happened?”

Makoto nodded, a smirk appeared on her face and she started, “We wanted to make our enemy believe that the leader of the Phantom Thieves was dead.”

Sojiro’s eyes widened at the answer, “W-what?”

Akechi chuckles a bit and Makoto continues, “What we had planned for was our enemy killing his fake in the Metaverse.”

Even more confused, Sojiro reels back at the newfound information, “W-wait! Hold on a sec! Enemy? Fake? Planned? What are you talking about…?”

“We had wanted to uncover who had set us up. Our previous goal was to determine their identity,” Yusuke adds in, he smiles at the thought of it all and continues, “Though that has now changed.”

His eyebrows raise, “Previous goal? Wouldn’t that mean you’ve already found who it was?” 

Akechi puts down his cup of coffee, the porcelain clinking with the plate, the sound bringing everyone’s attention to him, “It was me,” his smile is wry and he laughs dryly, “Foiled thoroughly, I had been found out.”

Ann offers a sad smile, “Well, you were trying to keep up a good public image. But because of that, you gave us a chance to strike back.”

“Morgana and Akira were the ones who noticed. This ace detective over here said something about pancakes when Morgana was the only one who said it,” Ryuji adds, snickering a bit. Akechi massages his temples lightly to feign subtle annoyance.

“Wait, wait,” Sojiro waves his arms about, more confused, and asks, “If Akechi was your enemy and was supposed to kill Akira, why is he here? And the cat can talk?!”

“Yes, we don’t know how, but Morgana can indeed talk. Though because we perceive cats as only able to meow, we don’t understand. However, when you enter the Metaverse and hear Morgana talk, then you’ll be able to understand him even outside of the Metaverse,” Makoto answers, Sojiro sighs in exasperation. She hesitates a bit before continuing, “And for Akechi…I believe it would be best if he were to explain.”

“Thank you. And yes, I was indeed supposed to kill him. However, those were orders given by-” he’s cut off by his phone ringing, the pleasant tune plays and he lifts the phone to show who it is, “Masayoshi Shido, himself.”

Sojiro’s mouth opens agape, not a single word comes out. Gloved fingers press to answer the phone, his face morphs into his TV persona in a snap.

“Hello, this is Goro Akechi speaking,” his voice is upbeat, and yet no sign of personality.

“I doubt you would need to inform me who you are.”

The voice from the other side is gruff, annoyed, and authoritarian. 

“My apologies, Shido-san.”

“Didn’t I tell you not to call me that? You know well what would happen if your phone has been bugged,” Akechi’s face twitches with slight annoyance at the comment, Futaba gives a piercing glare but manages to stay silent. The huff of irritation from Shido is clearly audible, “Onto the more important matters. You’ve done well in regards to the prosecutors.”

Akechi doesn’t smile any longer, he forces his larynxes to sound happy, cheery, and _fake._ And it grates on Akira’s ears, like a fork on a metal bowl, “The cause of death for the SIU director has been settled as a stroke it seems.”

Sae eyes close and she’s barely able to hold back her rage to that and still, everyone is blessedly silent.

“I had him working quite substantially on forging evidence. His loss should be mourned.”

“It _was_ thanks to his efforts that I could enter the Phantom Thief’s interrogation room too.”

Akira doesn't know whether or not to wince at the comment. 

“The SIU is in disarray with his death. I’ll take my time choosing the next director after the elections,” everyone in the room could practically hear Shido’s smile. 

“At any rate, I’ll be praised as a hero, and I owe it all to the Phantom Thieves.”

Akechi’s tone is unnaturally happy. So artificial and so very plastic. It sets everyone uneasy now that they finally notice it.

“The Phantom Thieves. You said yesterday that you were going to keep an eye on them. What made you miss a personal check-in today for that?”

“I had some concerns that needed to be double-checked. All of which have been proven false, but I’d rather be sure if anything.”

“Good. It seems as if the election is as good as won at this rate. This country will be mine to steer soon. Though we might need to do some _eliminations_ beforehand.”

Everyone’s eyes widened at that, Ann was quick enough to cover Ryuji’s mouth before he could shout. Yusuke gasped in horror, his stance stiffening, and Futaba curled up even tighter. Makoto and Haru’s eyes harden as they both try hard to not let their anger reign. Akira tenses, fear flits in his eyes for his friends.

Akechi notices them all reacting, internally thanking and sighing at the same time, “I believe it would be best to do so after the election. But even then, I sincerely doubt the need to do so. It would cause panic in the public eyes. What about unfortunate accidents instead? Better to live their life in fear and suffer than to die so quickly for their obstruction of our plans.”

“A good idea, I can cover up more if I’m the prime minister after all. All possible hindrances are now gone. There’s no doubt that this election is mine.”

Shido’s voice is honeyed in ill intent and cursed desires. His laugh is so audibly sinister, Akechi’s face sours at that and still, he keeps silent.

Despite the look of subtle disgust, his voice was still eerily cheerful, “I believe that is all, sir?”

“Yes. I’ll contact you later if needed,” and the phone call ends with a resoundingly loud beep. 

“My god…” Sae’s mouth was agape, everyone else grimaced at everything they heard, “Wouldn’t that mean you were the perpetrator behind all the cases?”

“Yes. All the mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns are all by me. All were done per one main contract to Shido, whatever he requested, I would do,” Akechi answered, calmly drinking another sip of coffee. Sojiro freezes up at the admission, almost dropping the carafe in his hand.

“The first case was 3 years prior…doesn’t that mean that you started when you were 15 and maybe 14 years olds? Akechi, just how did you get involved with this?”

He grimaces at the inquiry. The clang of metal on wood draws eyes upwards towards Sojiro. 

“I…remembered Wakaba talking about you. Said you were some genius kid who got the wrong end of the stick in life…when I saw you on the TV, I remembered how she said you were a brilliant kid who deserved better. When you stumbled into this cafe, I was surprised. But I could tell you were tired and wanted some privacy so I didn’t say anything,” Sojiro pinches the bridge of his nose, Akira notes how his voice lacked anger, “If what Futaba says is right, how her mother’s death was not suicide. Then why on Earth did you do it?”

Rusty brown eyes stare into the coffee, steam no longer wafting upwards but the smell was still there, aromatic and wonderfully homelike. 

“I can explain for him,” Akira says, shifting his body towards the two adults. Only for Akechi to raise his arm and shake his head.

“That would be no better than running away. I may be a murderer, but I am no coward,” a shaky sigh left him, “Shido’s my father. I do not know what Isshiki had told you, so I’ll simply explain everything.”

“My mother was involved with him, one of many women who he romanced and eventually threw away. The moment I was conceived, she no longer held any worth to him. Despite our conditions, we were happy. But of course, merry fairy tales all come to an end and she died, committed suicide in fact. I was thrown into the foster care system and once I found who had driven my mother to such dire straits, I vowed to bring him down,” Akechi laughs, hollow, “So I concocted a plan. When I had been given access to the Metaverse, it was as if some being, some God or some Demon, had blessed me. And I knew what to do then. I would gain Shido’s trust, become someone who he _needed_ , someone who was _vital_ to his plans. And once he was at the pinnacle of his power, I would drag him down to the Earth below. And in his ears, I would whisper who I was and witness the spectacle of life draining from his face.”

Gloved fingers ran through his hair, eyes straying from everyone, “I don’t expect forgiveness. Once I had found myself in such a position, I should have run. Find someone who I could trust and bring him down before then. But I hadn’t.”

“Dude…just stop. You just told us you were used. My dad was a shitty adult, if my mom wasn’t here because of him, I don’t even know what I’d do…No need to say sorry anymore,” Ryuji says, his face sad and his posture down.

Makoto nods, chiming in, “You’re a bit blunt at times, sometimes I feel like you’re too prideful. But that doesn’t make you wholly so a bad person. You helped me stand up against sis and…you respected her, I got jealous of you sometimes, being able to know my sister better than I do. Your plans may have been to catch us using her palace, but I’m sure you wanted her to change for the better too.”

Haru smiles, sweet and gentle, a bit sad still, “I don’t believe I’ll be able to forgive you for killing my father, Akechi-kun, but…to place blame solely on you would be equal to that of the rotten adults we’ve sworn to take down. And I sympathize with you, you’ve been through so much already.”

“Yeah, Haru’s right. And haven’t you gone through enough already? Even when you look happy on TV, you’re probably aren’t, right? You put on this mask every day, no matter where you go because if you ever take it off, it’ll be the end of you,” Ann adds in, giving him a sad look.

“You were used, just like I was. Almost like a tool, praise was given to you as a means of putting a light leash. Madarame had done just the same with me. And there was no doubt that I wouldn’t have killed him if I wasn’t told of the alternatives,” Yusuke says, rubbing his fingers together.

Futaba plants her feet down, taking the cup of coffee she has in her hands and cupping it, brown liquid reflecting her stare, “I…think the reason why you have only have two Personas is ‘cause of the fact you were always alone…you’re special, just like Akira. But you only had your lies and hate, no one else was there for you. You have a sense of justice, but it got warped ‘cause of all the rotten adults around you.” 

“And…Shido didn’t tell you did he? If you killed someone’s shadow that you would be killing them in real life. You made the breakdowns happen, but you didn’t know that the shutdowns would cause their deaths,” Morgana’s vibrant turquoise eyes stare straight into Akechi’s, a piercing look yet not judging, “And…you care about him, don’t you?”

A laugh escapes Akechi- no, Goro’s lips, his hands trembling oh so slightly, “It seems that I’m surrounded by complete morons.”

A fond smile made its way up onto Akira’s lips, he got up, making his way to Goro. Happy that finally, his friends understood Goro. Bruised arms wrapped around the boy, he ignored the pain, ignored Goro’s watery eyes. His heart was ready to burst with something he didn’t understand, was it love? Probably. Akechi squeaked in surprise, but not pulling away, only flinching slightly at the contact.

Slowly but surely, everyone else piled on sans Morgana, Sojiro, and Sae. 

Sae chuckled at the sight, she always carried the lingering thought of how lonely Akechi was and how much time he put into detective work. 

The thought of it was nice. Comforting. For once in her life, she couldn’t imagine the culprit behind the mental shutdown and psychotic breakdown cases to be in prison now, rotting away for the rest of their life.

Sae replayed his files, actions, thoughts, emotions that she could remember, flitting through each of her memories of him. Noticing his lies now that she knew everything. It was, it felt so  _ bizarre  _ to see a criminal as a human. 

A memory of him gushing about a certain someone he had met appeared, she had obtained some tickets to the aquarium somehow, but her busy schedule made it otherwise difficult to even consider the decision. So when Goro started talking about his time with his newfound friend, she couldn’t help but give the tickets to him.

He thanked her profusely after. Next day, he looked oh so smitten, finally looking like a proper teenager after all that time he spent working with him after a fateful encounter. Or not so fateful, but it didn’t matter as much now. An issue for later after all.

It was there, it was obvious. Sae could see how Goro had changed because of a certain  _ someone _ . But it didn’t hurt to confirm.

“Oh, yes, Morgana. I have a question for you.”

The cat blinked once, then twice, finally jumping at Sae talking to him, “I-I forgot you could hear me! But, yeah sure what is it?”

“How did Goro join you guys?” 

“Akira struck up a deal with him, then they fought, but Akechi was the one who forfeited since they were at a stalemate for a long time.”

Sae hummed a bit, a little amused, “Goro doesn’t seem the type to give up so easily, but…it seems that he’s put those aquarium tickets to good use.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also uhhhh writer tip, use grammarly?
> 
> also scream at me or smth at [here](https://twitter.com/GrilledKoi) or [here](https://twitter.com/AxoKoi) im more active on the first one but i also want to shamelessly promote my art


	11. among the sea of red, glass floats down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> laskjfdlkjs i am not dead!!! just busy with other stuff right now, and HOLY FALSKFDJL KJ ok I'm an idiot and I'll probably have to restate this later, but if you read chapter 10 before this updated which would've been uhhhh 7/22, go reread chapter 10

“Hey, we never really planned a celebration and welcoming party for Akechi, did we?” Ryuji asks, soda in hand, which prompts Makoto to chime in as well.

“True…now that Goro, oh, are you um okay with me calling you that?” Goro nods at her question, and Makoto beams at the answer, “Well, since Goro joined us properly this time, why don’t we celebrate after we steal Shido’s heart?”

His eyebrows quirk at the suggestion, sure yeah he’s a little less reluctant to join the Phantom Thieves than to continue his plan now, but that doesn’t mean a party is needed.

“I don’t believe there’s a need for that. I did join you guys to take down Shido, but that’s it. That shouldn’t be enough to prompt the need for a celebration.”

Ryuji gives him this look of disbelief, Akira can only chuckle at his answer, the blond quickly bites back, “What?! Nu-uh, we’re having a party after Shido’s heart’s stolen!”

“You just want to have another party…don’t you, but for once, I agree with him. There should be a party for this,” Morgana adds in, licking at his paw nonchalantly. Ryuji already trying to square up with the cat.

Yusuke nods, giving a huff of annoyance at Goro’s words, “I agree with Ryuji and Morgana. Even if we did start on rather sour terms, we managed to properly understand one another. That ought to be enough for a party. Besides, there isn’t any harm to having free food, is there?”

“I swear to god, Inari, you REALLY need to manage your budget better…” Futaba scowls, her irritation shown as she nudges her glasses back in position.

He turns to Futaba, his annoyance redirected to her now, “That is impossible, my budgeting skills are excellent as is! I can do a few days without food if need be for the sake of art!”

They bicker, their voices basically meshing into white noise as Haru tries to offer her bank account to feed him. 

Akira slinks over to Goro’s side, the brunet giving him a look, “Don’t tell me you’re going to join in on their obnoxious haggling.”

He smiles, “Just saying, a party does sound pretty nice. Though, I was planning on taking you out on a date once this blows over. This time, no rivalry, just us being lovey-dovey boyfriends.” Goro shoots him an incredulous glare.

Seeing his boyfriend's reaction, he tangles his finger, bringing it up to kiss lightly, “Wouldn’t that sound lovely, honey~?”

“You- you! Incorrigible flirt, can you please not say that!” Goro’s face was bright red, his ears also painted in the color. Ann snickers at the sight, an evil glint in her eyes.

“Ryuji, you know what that means! Time to pay up!” Ann is smacking Ryuji’s arm, who groans and reluctantly shuffling through his pockets for cash.

“Fiiiiine!” Ryuji groaned, shuffling through his wallet.

Futaba pulls away from her argument with Yusuke, a cheeky grin on her face, “Oh, while we’re at it! Mr. Detective Prince! Confess to your crimes of forfeiting to Akira ‘cause you were crushing on him hard!”

Ryuji immediately freezes up. Scrambling over to him, he grasps Goro’s shoulders and shoots him a desperate look, almost begging, “Akechi, please tell me you didn’t forfeit ‘cause you liked him” 

Somehow, someway, Goro gets more flustered and shuts his eyes, “What? What? No, I- there’s- that’s completely unreasonable!!”

“Oh, he totally DID! That’s got to be the worst lie since the pancake thing!” Futaba screeches out, she points at Ryuji, “That means you owe me TOO!”

“You guys were having bets on me and Goro, the hell?” Akira grumbles out.

Goro sighs in relief, “Oh, thank god someone in here has some-”

Only to be interrupted, “Why didn’t you include me?!”

“Nevermind,” and he facepalms.

Sojiro sighs at the sight of it all, but he smiles. A bit happy, but he still opts to turn on the TV to drown out all the play fighting.

The sounds of banter as Akira complains about not being included in a bet, Ryuji and his thinning wallet, Goro grumbling about the bets, and Ann and Futaba demanding their payments.

Sae slinks closer to Sojiro, distancing herself from the banter as her younger sister joins in. 

“Are they normally this loud?” she asks, an amused smile on her face.

“Normally yeah. After Akechi joined them, they became real silent,” Sojiro scratches his nape, a small smile perking up, “But it looks like things are getting better for them.”

“Akechi…what do you think of him?” 

Both watch as the group of kids plus cat bicker and banter around. Makoto, Haru, and Yusuke having joined in as well. It’s a happy sight.

“Wakaba said he was a brilliant kid…always happy to help her out. Before she died…she wanted to introduce him to Futaba. Wakaba had found some random documents I believe. Never told me what it was and I never found out,” a tired sigh leaves him, Sojiro’s exhausted old eyes stare into the tiled floor, “He killed Wakaba. The boy admits to it. But what kind of guy can blame some kid for killing Futaba’s mother when it was his father forcing him.”

“Yes…I must agree with that. And- oh, strange it seems they’ve quieted down,” Sae stops, she looks at the Thieves as they watch their TV intently.

“-snap election for the House of Representatives. Discussion is swirling around the nominees as the deadline for candidacy nominees nears. Candidates will be announced on the 23rd of this month, while elections will be held on the 18th of next.”

Ryuji’s the first to say anything, “Elections, huh?”

“We’ll need to take Shido down beforehand,” Makoto says, tucking some of her hair behind her ears.

“He’s got a Palace, right?” Ryuji quickly asks, already pulling out his phone.

“Yes, though I highly suggest you don’t head in from where we stand,” everyone gives him a befuddled look, “We’ll drown before we even get in if we enter here. Why? All of Japan, save for the Diet Building, his cruise ship or rather his Palace, is underneath a sea of red.”

Everyone’s eyes widened, Ryuji the first one to say anything, “Holy shit…like all of Japan?!”

Disgust is clear on Yusuke’s features, disdain in his voice, “How arrogant must he be to see the country sunken and himself as the ruler of the Diet Building?”

“Extremely arrogant...I’ve ventured within his Palace per his request and everything about it is abhorrent,” Goro answers, grimacing at the thought of it.

Akira raises his free hand, managing to calm everyone’s nerves for now, “It’s pretty clear that Shido’s going to be our next target, even if his Palace might be hard,” a flash of a cocky grin, “We decided that we’ll do this, right?”

A whip of her hand, Ann’s blue eyes scream of Hecate’s anger, “Of course! We can’t let some rotten adult become Prime Minister!”

“He’ll be a worthy opponent. A fitting opponent for us,” Yusuke’s rage is silent, Kamu Susan-o’s fighting spirit rages underneath his calm.

Haru steels herself, Astarte’s fury was her own, “I must, for my father. So let’s win this together!”

Futaba fixes her glasses upward, the brilliant flames of Prometheus swirl bright, “They’ll learn what it’s like going up against us! Time for revenge!”

“We won’t let Japan be controlled by a rotten man like Shido,” Makoto’s red eyes burned with violence, Anat’s power burned bright.

Goro leans back a bit, his head resting on his free hand, Loki giving that taunting laughter that would bring ruin if not tamed, “It won’t be as satisfying as killing him, but maybe his suffering for eternity will be enough.”

A cheeky smile tugged at Morgana’s mouth, Zorro cackled with delight, “Then it’s unanimous!”

Akira can’t help but smile, Joker and Arsène laughing in glee. He glances at Goro, “He’ll suffer for all the shit he’s thrown at us.”

Ryuji perks up, “Think we can go in tomorrow?”

A shake of his head, “I have a personal check-in with him tomorrow, sadly. We’ll be having our first infiltration on the 23rd then. I have an interview that day, but I should be able to make it to the Diet Building. Not to mention his rallies he’s been having around here, which would make it easy to avoid his eye.”

“So Shido’s has been holding rallies around here, probably why it’s gotten so loud lately,” Sojiro comments, irate at the thought of it. 

Ann massages her temples, “Yeah...I’ve been hearing them too, which is super annoying! Anyhow! How much time do we have to steal Shido’s heart?”

“Our deadline is when election day happens which will be on the 18th. We have roughly three-fourths of a month to do this,” Morgana chimes in, the cheeky smile on his face still there, “But! We have Akechi here! I don’t think we need to worry about it much since he’s so powerful. I’m sure we’ll be able to breeze through Shido’s palace in no time!”

“That is quite true! Akira-kun and Akechi-kun were near equal during that fight. It was indeed a surprise when Akechi-kun forfeited, but seeing how he likes Akira-kun so much, that might explain why,” Haru’s face lights up with a smile, everyone agrees, Goro blushing at Haru’s comment, “Oh! And your Persona’s sword! Laevateinn was it? It was a sight to see such a beautifully large sword!”

Yusuke nods knowingly, he can only agree wholeheartedly, “Ah, yes, indeed. It was quite a magnificent sight. In fact, I wish to document such beauty one day! The length and its burning red look makes it look scaldingly large!”

“Dude, phrasing,” Ryuji groans out, Futaba snickering at Yusuke’s words.

Haru laughs as well, she looks at Goro, “Oh, you said your phone got bugged again, right?”

“Yes, they needed my phone to go inside, Shido probably wanted to keep the leash on my tight enough so I can’t do anything suspicious on my phone.”

Yusuke winces at that, “Again? It seems one time is not enough for them.”

“I’ll just get you a new phone then, since we have a day before we have to go in, Futaba can upgrade it!”

“Y-yeah!” Futaba stumbles a bit, her mind lingering somewhere else, “Um, guys? I was wondering...What’s gonna happen to Goro once this blows over?” 

Sae gives them a look, they all had a feeling this would happen, “but still, we don’t want it.”

“Goro will need to testify to verify what Shido has done within the Metaverse. However this would mean that Goro will most likely face some time in prison,” she sighs, she doesn’t know, nobody here knows, “There’s…no guarantee that he will be a free man sadly, however with the circumstances given, I might just be able to land a far lighter sentence.”

Goro quirks an eyebrow at the new topic, he scoffs a bit, “Are you letting this interfere with our work? I don’t need your pity if you were wondering. I did say I would turn myself in after all of this, no?”

The question is directed at Haru and Futaba, the two girls most deeply affected by Goro and his actions. Sojiro and Sae stare on, having mixed feelings hearing Goro’s words. 

Haru shakes her head, her hair swaying gently along, “I still don’t know, but I do know one thing, it wouldn’t sit right with me if we made you go through more when you should be healing.”

“I…don’t really know either. Yeah, sure it’s you owning up to your crimes, but not really? Like, I…” Futaba messes with the hem of her jacket, the frayed bits twirling around her finger as her mind is pensive, “I can’t really see you as a bad guy anymore.”

Akira hums, his right hand still snug against Goro’s, “C’mon, let us care about you for once. We’re not pitying you, just worried. How about we talk about this after Shido confesses? This way we all have more time to think about all of this.”

“Yes, I agree with that. It would be wrong of me to form an opinion in haste, especially one as important as such,” Yusuke agrees, nodding slightly at the suggestion. 

Ryuji is much more expressive of his agreement, a sad smile on his face, “Same, also I don’t think I can handle thinking about this then Shido’s Palace…”

“Yes, that would be for the best, but-” Makoto pulls out her phone, showing the train timetable, “-I think we should all head home now, trains are about to stop.”

At Makoto’s words, Ryuji and Ann start scrambling, their trains were one of the earlier ones to stop, Yusuke mumbled about his curfew, wondering if he could make some excuse to pass by. Sae laughs and leaves with Makoto and Haru, both talking on their way out.

Everyone agrees on that, not wanting to talk about what would happen to Goro and home seems like a welcome comfort. The last to linger are Futaba, and Sojiro, though they’re both outside of Leblanc, talking. And Goro, still inside the cafe. Goro himself had asked for some time to think since his train was one of the later ones to stop. 

Akira was in his bedroom, having just changed into his pajamas. He peaks from the staircase, a question lingering in his mind, “Hey…Goro?” 

“Yes?”

“About the rematch we had…why did you forfeit again?”

His eyebrows quirk at the question, “This isn’t about the bet, right?”

“What? No, I’m, no not that.”

Silence hangs heavily between them, Akira on the staircase staring blankly into the wall in front of him. Goro’s rusty brown eyes can’t help but stare holes into his already cooled down coffee.

“I…still don’t really know why exactly. Just, it seemed easier to just stop. I meant it when I said I hate you for making me so weak. I…didn’t really want to kill you,” a choppy laugh leaves his lips, drawing Akira’s eyes on him, “The rematch...it’d be a lie to say it really was a rematch. I was so pent up on anger, it was frustrating how the battle went. It wasn’t a rematch, to begin with, was it?”

Goro pauses, combing through his hair with his fingers, hesitant on sharing anymore. Akira got up and walked over to him, seating himself right in front of the Prince Detective.

When their eyes met, Goro’s pensive face melted into a crinkly smile. It looked like his TV smile, but cracked, more real this time.

“At some point, I just wanted to stop. Maybe, just maybe, it would be nice to see you alive past November 20th. Your supposed due date. You?”

At his question, Akira plays with his bangs, a habit of pensiveness, “I...wasn’t angry. I just wanted to get you out, pretended the ‘rematch’ was fun to just brush it off, but...I really did want you on our side y’know? And I- uh, well I didn’t think you liked me back, so I thought fighting was the next best choice to get to you...pretty stupid, right?”

Light chuckling leaves Goro’s lips, “Well...now we know better,” Goro takes off his gloves, the 2nd time Akira’s seen him do it. His fingers soon thread with Akira’s, and “oh, his fingers are so SOFT! What the hell?!” Akira watches Goro stare at their hands, fingers locked onto each other’s palms, and his face is dusted pink at the sight of it all. There’s nothing special here, just the gentle lights of Leblanc and Goro’s soft fingers and melancholic happiness, “A promise for a proper rematch?”

The idea seemed nice, Akira agreed, “Sure, but no killing each other alright?”

Goro chuckles at Akira’s response, humored at his words, “Yes, yes. Though time may prove that impossible, I do wish we can go all out and properly next time.”

A goofy smile tugs at Akira’s lips, Goro reciprocating with an almost equally goofy smile, “That seems pretty nice to me. Well, I think you should go soon, your train is gonna stop soon.”

Their hands still linked, Goro nods at that. He pulls Akira in, a light kiss on his lips. It’s sweet, it’s polite, it’s a small little goodbye kiss. He parts with a smug smile, delighted at the sight of Akira’s slightly pinked face, “See you soon then.”

Soon Goro’s out of the door, leaving a very happy Akira behind. A lovestruck goofy grin is plastered on his face, Morgana groans, calling him to sleep. He complies, going to sleep with that same grin. 

After a day of preparing supplies and pretending to be dead, they gathered in front of the Diet Building.

“Oh, it seems like Akechi-kun isn’t here yet…” Haru comments, looking around the premise.

“Well, he did say he had an interview today. We might’ve met up earlier than we should’ve,” Makoto adds in, checking the time on her phone. 

Akira pulls out his phone, “I’ll just text him.”

pleasant boy(◍•ᴗ•◍)❤  
  
gorooooooo  
  
gorororororoooo  
  
Yes, Akira?  
  
are you done with your interview yet???  
  
I'm at the train station right now, I just arrived.  
  
I’m disposing my phone now, so I’ll have to go silent until I meet with you.  
ok ok  
  
see you soon! Haru should have your phone ready.  
  


Pocketing his phone, he looks back up, “Goro said he’s coming soon. He’s at the train station right now.”

“Finally…why does he have so many goddamn interviews?” Ryuji groans out, slouching against the tree.

Morgana poked out from Akira’s bag, sticking out his tongue, he quipped, “You’re one to talk, Ryuji. You got here last.”

“What was that?!”

Makoto sighs, getting in between both of them, “Guys, please. We shouldn’t start a fight so close to the Diet Building,” she points at the guards stationed around the gate.

“Oh-” Ryuji looks at where Makoto points, “Shit, sorry.”

“The guards have already started suspecting you guys,” Goro comes in, tapping on Ryuji’s shoulders.

“HOLY SHI-!” Ryuji shouts, drawing more attention from the guards, he notices their eyes on them, “S-sorry…”

“Goro, you could’ve just walked up to use normally…” Makoto adds, that TV smile of his on Goro brightening up by 10.

A new phone is already in front of Goro, Haru smiling at him, he thanks her quietly, “I didn’t want any of Shido’s lackeys having noticed me doing anything suspicious, so I had a little conversation to make me innocuous. They pointed you guys out to me since they saw how young you were, they asked me to clear you away. So-” he turns back to the guards and gives them a thumbs up, “We should be safe to go to Shido’s Palace now.” 

Futaba snickers, “Goro’s like Akira, our secret weapon. They’ll never see it coming!”

A smirk appears on Akira’s face, his hood up, but they can see his smile, “He kinda is,” he looks at Goro, “You wanna do the honors?”

“Of course,” Goro turns on his new phone, everything already filled in and the Meta Nav already there. Within seconds, reality distorts. Red ripples wave around them, transporting them.

The moment that the ripples settle, Goro is already in front, on the bow of the ship. They’re all in their normal clothes save for Morgana in his Metaverse form.

Slowly, the sight of a red sea filling the entirety of Japan and sinking skyscrapers enter their vision. All of their eyes widen at the sight, Goro just stares blankly.

Glass crushing and the lack of salty water brings a sense of unease. Wind billows around them, the ship mowing onward. An unsinkable ship, the Noah’s Ark having merged with the modernness of Titanic. But now completely invincible to the perils of the sea. 

“Even though this country may sink, he alone will survive,” she looks at Goro, “That’s what this cognition is about, right?”

His head turns in her direction, wind blowing his chestnut brown hair around, giving him a slightly ethereal look despite the hellish landscape, “Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was gonna add in them exploring around, but i wanted to end on goro akechi being fabulous 
> 
> also scream at me or smth at [here](https://twitter.com/GrilledKoi) or [here](https://twitter.com/AxoKoi) im more active on the first one but i also want to shamelessly promote my art


	12. vanity, praises, just sock them already

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hee hoo im back! and uhhh sorry for the late update

Ryuji grinds his teeth, “A country that children can be proud of, my ASS! I didn’t think it would look this effed up, but it is! We _need_ to take him down!”

“This is beyond ridiculous,” Ann quips, crossing his arms.

Wind continues to billow behind them, the shattering of glass becomes white noise. Everyone’s disbelief at the horrific sight still there.

Yusuke looks at Goro, “How on Earth did you survive under this man’s control?”

Goro is silent at that, everyone understands without him uttering a word. The red horizon that was illuminated by a forever setting sun. The lack of any smell, not even a scant inch of salty seawater wafted into their noses.

“It all seems so repulsive…” Makoto comments idly. Haru’s fist clenched, her eyes crinkling and her shaking calms down slowly. 

“So my father died for someone like this…” Haru grimaces.

Futaba perks up, “We gotta sink Shido instead of this country!”

Morgana’s paws scratch at his ears, “Yeah! Even if his Palace seems almost impossible, we’re gonna steal his Treasure no matter what!”

“Oh, but he most certainly meets this sort of impossibility. We’ll need to be completely careful, his Palace won’t be like the other’s you’ve faced. That’s thanks to Isshiki-san’s research that he had stolen,” Goro comments, finally turning around.

“Even if it’s gonna be tough, we’re stealing his Treasure!” Ryuji jumps up with confidence, his smile wide.

“Since you’ve been here, have you ever scouted it out before?” Akira asks and Goro nods, “Let’s head in first and have Crow lead the way.”

As they walk over, Ryuji takes notice of the lack of change to their appearance, “Wait, our clothes haven’t changed yet, I guess he hasn’t seen us as a threat yet, huh?”

Makoto hums, looking around the area and adds, “I think it’s just like sis’ Palace until we enter the Palace itself, the Palace rulers don’t see us as threats yet, right, Goro?”

Goro, having been in front of the rest of them, opens the door before answering, “In a way, yes-” as they walk in, the familiar blue flames erupt around them. Colorful confetti and bombastic trumpets sound surround them, “-though it’s more of him being extremely conscious of anyone who holds any sort of value to him. Those who he values will all be present within the cruise ship. And since we forced ourselves in, we’ve forced his attention onto us now.”

“Huh, it’s obvious why we’re wearing our masks, but why is everyone else wearing it too?” Ann points out, everyone looks around to see that yes masks adorned with little gold details are on everyone’s faces.

All around them, people wore lavish clothes, suits, and dresses clearly worth hundreds of thousands of yen. They all carried one simple similarity, a simple black mask donned upon their faces.

Yusuke comments, “It must reflect Shido’s views, surely he doesn’t view others normally.”

Makoto peers around twice, before replying, “With how insane his distortion is, I’m surprised they even appear as people.”

“It is indeed Shido’s view of others, namely those who hold some semblance of value to him. Though it may seem like a surprise now, his cognitions of them do not overlook their potential to stab him in the back, hence the mask,” he turns around and taps his mask, “Our masks tell who we truly are, however instead of that, those black flimsy masks, tell of the lies and facades they use and how Shido knows that very well.”

“So he knows that they’re always wearing a mask and because of that, he can only see them with a mask on his ship,” Haru confirms.

“There are a few exceptions to this case, however, they don’t prove much in terms of importance wise right now,” Goro walks over to the staircase, “In any case, let’s not waste any more time. The passengers of this ship don’t really have much to say other than frivolous compliments to Shido or their endless spiel about how high and mighty they are, so we’re better off just moving along.”

“Alrighty! Let’s move out, we’ll probably be getting into fights sooner so let’s be careful from now on,” Morgana quickly points out, jumping around a small bit.

Right as the Thieves ascend the stairs, they’re immediately confronted by a shadow, it’s white mane shining and tail swishing around. Futaba immediately flinches at the sight of it, quickly popping into Prometheus to support her allies.

“It’s attacking us here with all these people around?!” Ryuji shouts, already getting into his attack stance.

The battle starts, the white lion roaring despite the surrounding people. On the spot, Akira immediately deduced the beast’s weakness, “Fox use Bufudyne!” 

With unnatural speed, Yusuke immediately jumps in, Kamu Susano-o appearing behind him. The ice attack immediately freezes the white lion and hits its weakness, downing it in one go. Soon they fall into a hold-up position, with a simple signal from Akira, they all jump in for an all-out attack, taking down the Shadow before it could retaliate. 

Once they finish the battle, everyone around them starts muttering, on and on about the fight, and how it was merely entertainment from Shido for them. Long laundry lists of compliments and praises to both Shido and their status. Their laughs, irritating and bombastic.

“What is with these people…? Do they not feel any danger after what they had just witnessed?” Yusuke immediately quips, side-eyeing the entire crowd.

Goro scoffs, “They all believe that this ship is completely safe from any sort of harm, mostly Shido’s high and mighty belief that he and his supporters are completely safe from any sort of outside influence.”

Ryuji snickers, already turning around and ignoring the rest of their jeers and chatter, “We’ll show ‘em what this ship really is!”

“In any other case, let’s move on. I’d rather we not waste our time lamenting over the brainless passengers of this decrepit ship,” Goro immediately quips.

Quickly, they ascend the rest of the stairs. Slowly but surely they take out every one of the foes. Some immediately die when Akira rips the Shadows’ masks off, giving them a breather every so often. 

As they approach the gleaming doors with lion heads practically screaming their importance, they finally stop.

Morgana starts, pointing at the doors, “Is this…?”

A nod from Goro and he answers, “Yes, I’m sure you can feel the faint sense of his Treasure behind these doors.”

Futaba adjusts her goggles, looking over the slots, “There are slots to stick in something like a keycard…woah, there’s five of them!”

As Futaba finishes her small observation, the speakers that accessorize the screen immediately boom with a chairman-esque voice.

“-four hundred seventy-five people in favor, zero against. Since there is no one against this plan, this bill will be unanimously passed as drafted.”

Their heads turn at the voice, some straying over to look at Goro for answers, Ryuji the first to say anything, “Passed? What’s going on? Was that Shido’s voice?”

“Yes, and if you take a look at the placard right above those doors…” Goro points out, drawing everyone’s eyes to the label.

“The Representatives Chamber? Beyond these doors would be the main assembly hall,” Makoto quickly supplies.

“...the what now?” Ryuji asks.

“It’s that large conference room that you usually see on the news,” Makoto quickly answers.

A quick nod from Ryuji and then another question is asked again, “Ohhh, that thing. Gotcha, so what are they doing inside?”

This time Goro’s the one to answer, “A meaningless vote. The insides are empty, void of anyone. The talking and cheers inside are merely fake. Because in his view, he’s the absolute law, his supporters are invisible to him or rather only visible when needed.”

“Not only is he doing whatever he wants by keeping his supporters inside, but he also doesn’t even treat the people who support him with any sort of value…” Haru pauses for a bit, then asks, “-and Akechi-kun, wouldn’t that have meant you’ve seen the main assembly halls already?”

“Yes-”

“That means we can send the calling card already, right?” Ryuji interrupts, a small vein on Goro’s face slightly visible. Akira can barely hold in his laughter, resulting in an awfully loud snort, which earns him a glare from Goro.

“Did you obtain the necessary keycards? Or was there another method you had used to enter?” Yusuke quickly chimes in, stopping Goro right before he could explain himself.

A huff leaves Goro’s lips and his face contorts to slight annoyance, his mask was still on, making his annoyance more hidden unless he groaned or made some noise, “If you would let me explain,” which managed to silence everyone, he turns around to face the door, “I was merely curious one time, wanting to see what the innards of his Palace were. The moment I walked up to these doors, they opened instantly. But as you can see…”

His words led everyone’s eyes to the closed doors, Akira grimaced at the thought of it. Just Goro having his phone broken twice and pushing back one check-in was enough for Shido to question his loyalty. 

“Shido started getting suspicious of you,” Akira concludes, a sigh leaves him, “Which would mean we definitely need to finish this fast, otherwise you’re screwed.”

Goro flashes his TV smile, his voice turned back to that high pitch cheerfulness, “Bingo. Excellent deduction, Joker.”

“So we’ll need to do some vows of loyalty or to be his followers,” Morgana says, everyone nods along.

“Basically, we’ll need to prove that we’re on his side to open those doors. Like earning his trust,” Ann surmises, bringing up another issue at hand, “But how are we going to do that?”

Though it’s a bit obvious, judging by the passengers within the ship, it was pretty obvious that the answer was, “Pretend. We’ll just have to pretend.”

Makoto gapes a bit, “You sure move on quick…”

“We got that down...but what's this qualification thing about? You know anything about it, Crow?” Ryuji asks, turning around and looking at Goro for answers. 

“Five slots, five notable figures. There’ll be some investigations needed to find where they are. I already have the entire layout on me,” he rummages through his pockets, pulling out a small USB, “I’ve already compiled them here for easier reviewing. We should move to a nearby safe room to discuss this further. Oracle, if you may?”

Futaba instantly perks up, a gleeful look on her face as she snatches the USB out of Goro’s hands, “Nice! Now…!” She quickly feeds the USB into her Persona. Prometheus rotates a bit before the information whizzes past her eyes within her goggles, “Okay, there’s one behind us on the left.” 

They all shuffle into the safe room, opening up the door to an extravagant room with two beds and a view of the drowned country and sinking skyscrapers.

Without a word, they crowd the largest table in the room, everyone either standing or pulling a chair over. Futaba quickly swipes up, letting her Persona show everything that was within Goro’s USB.

“Right now, the issue is finding where those notable figures are. However, a quick skim of the map shows 4 major points that draw the most attention, the pool deck, restaurant, engine room, and gambling hall,” Goro explains, pointing to each of those areas as he talks, “The path seems quite linear, which would prove an easier time. However…”

He taps on one of the innocuous halls that bridge the restaurant to the pool area. Zoom in for a closer view on everything, “There are these statues of him, along with lamps, that are in these areas. I don’t know what they do, but with the number of vents that lay around, and the number of locked doors that lead to vital areas. It’s safe to assume that traveling from point A to point B won’t be as easy as it looks like.”

Akira’s eyes scan over the map, steel-grey eyes shift over to look at Goro, “Big chance we’ll need to just adapt to whatever pops up. Let’s try and nab the Will Seeds as we go along. This might be our last heist, but it’s better to have whatever gear it’ll become for our last fight.”

Makoto nods a bit, “Yes…certain issues may arise, let’s try to conserve our SP and HP usage. Crow, do you know what weaknesses the Shadows here have?”

“Most of them. Some don’t have any sort, but with Joker’s ability to instantly dispatch Shadows immediately, Shadows won’t be much of an issue,” Goro replies, in which Makoto nods in agreement.

“Hm, you said there were 4 areas we gotta check, but wasn’t there a fifth slot though? Where would they be?” Ann asks, having noticed the slight discrepancy.

“I would assume they would be within their sleeping quarters. That, we will need to do some investigation to figure out, though we’ll find out in due time. For now, we focus on what we can do,” Goro answers.

“Wait, who are we looking for though? I know we only got like 4 places to look, which means it’s gonna be pretty fast, but uhh, I’m pretty sure none of us know who to look for. And I don’t know about you, but everyone here looks the same, especially the masks,” Ryuji points out, scratching his head a bit.

“They’ll probably be the most obvious, having some sort of VIP treatment wherever they are. The people we are looking for are Mr. Ooe, a politician who had sided with Shido fairly early on, a former noble, he’s one of Shido’s main funders and connects him to other funders, a TV station director, it’s pretty self-explanatory what his job is, the IT president, the main suspect behind the entire Medjed fiasco, and the Cleaner,” Goro explains, giving a small explanation for each of them.

“Okay, okaaay- wait,” Futaba halts her note-taking, immediately she’s questioning him, “The Cleaner? What’s that guy supposed to be? Or uh, who?” 

Goro sighs a bit, “Either me or a Yakuza.”

At the mention of ‘yakuza,’ Ryuji immediately jumps up, “Y-yakuza?!”

“Hm, I think he’ll be the hardest of them. But I don’t think getting a letter of introduction from him will be hard in terms of negotiations,” Haru points out, “If it is you, then we’ll need to look out for a cognitive version of yourself. But if it is a Yakuza then…” she leans forward, pointing at the engine room, “I believe he would be in here. Yakuza tend to work in the shadows, so they’ll probably be in a place where nobody is at. And it would be something that Shido wants to hide too.”

Goro silently agrees, everyone else stares in silent disbelief.

“Uhhh, Noir, how’d you know all of that…?” Ryuji gawks a bit.

She laughs, not the evil spooky type or anything, which somehow makes Akira and everyone else, sans Goro, scared. 

“It’s fairly common for corrupt politicians to do that, I mostly heard that from my…father’s associates when he had planned to rise to the political world,” Haru explains, a small pause before she had said the word ‘father’. Her smile falters a bit, looking a bit strained. 

“Ah, shit, sorry for reminding…” Ryuji says, scratching the back of his head. Goro looks away from them all, deciding to focus on the holographic map. 

“No, no, it’s alright Skull,” she says, quickly brushing it off. Makoto gives her a worried glance, before standing up.

“That’s basically everything planned out. Even if there are some parts where we will need to adapt, we should be fine seeing as Joker’s able to kill some of the Shadows instantly. Not to mention that down shot he learned,” Makoto surmises, just finishing up jotting down her notes. She looks up and asks, “What should we do now? We still have a lot of time and I think we should get a feel of this place before we leave.”

“Yeah. Besides, we can split up and collect some info on who is where,” Akira says.

Morgana jumps at Akira’s words, his smile big and wide, “Alright! Then let’s head out!”

As they all walk out, Akira notices Goro staying right at the safe room, talking to Futaba. His walking stops and he turns around fully, “You two alright?”

Futaba gives him a thumbs up before turning back to Goro and resuming their conversation. _‘Must be talking about something,’_ he guesses _, ‘Probably should check up on everyone.’_

He walks around, Morgana accompanying him. Checking up on them is easy, the lack of Shadows leaving only the feeling of disgust over the vanity of everything and the endless praise for Shido. Not to mention the side chatter and gossip he hears from them, lamenting over his friends and their attire and lack of respect for the Palace ruler.

_‘Yeah, no shit. Why the fuck would we even like him?’_

There’s a chest in the hallway right next to the safe room. He checks up on Futaba and Goro, both are crouching or on the floor as they discuss whatever. A smile reaches him as Futaba’s thumbs up and Goro’s neutral, _‘but not scowling at least,’_ face, _'almost looks like a smile. '_ It makes him forget about the blinding gold of the Palace, the incessant talking that reek of lies, and all the bad in the world for a second.

Morgana quickly drags him over to the hallway that right in front of them, it’s just right across the large atrium. There’s a set of stairs for them to climb, right when they were about to reach the top, loud thumping followed by clawed hands pulling him back.

“Wha-?” Akira starts, he looks up at Goro who has a hand at his mouth, and Morgana’s too.

“Oracle picked up on you walking into a strong enemy, so I came over to check up on you-” Goro peaks above the staircase, taking in the features of the Shadow that was posted there, when he looks back down he continues his whispering, “-It looks like one of the Cleaner’s lackeys. Security level will go up if we decide to go up against it. We better off leaving it be, since this is a scouting mission as you said.”

Both Morgana and Akira nod, resulting in Goro reluctantly pulling his hands away. 

“Come on, I’m sure everyone’s gone far enough with their investigations of this Palace, Joker,” Goro offers a hand, which Akira takes, he’s pulled up and both start their walk back down.

The three of them walk over to Futaba, who looks up from her laptop, a sly smile is on her face, “Did Prince Charming save the damsel Phantom Thief from the big bad monster?”

Annoyance immediately pricks Goro and he grumbles, Akira looks at him with a devious look, and links his red gloved fingers with Goro’s clawed ones.

“Yes, he did indeed~ Oh, wonderful prince, your kindness and chivalry makes me fall ever more in love with you~” Akira teases, even though the small slit of Goro’s mask shows only so much of his face, his blush is burningly obvious to anyone.

Goro grits his teeth and seethes, “Shouldn’t you be calling everyone back, oh leader. And would it be benevolent of you to _let go of my hand_?”

His cheeky smile is still on his face, Futaba snickers from her position. Akira doesn’t let go of his hand, instead of bringing it up to his lips and planting a kiss on the back of it, “Oh, I should be. Shouldn’t I? But I’m just so scared, Prince Charming. Can’t you hold my hands until everyone else gets here.”

Futaba nearly breaks into a fit of laughter, Morgana just groaning and looking away from the two.

“Okay, okay, no more couple shmople shit or else Crow’s gonna turn into some blushing mess. I’m calling everyone back to the safe room, aight?” Futaba bargains, Akira mocks hurt but nods along with Goro.

With a press of a button, they all come back to the safe room. They find that Mr. Ooe is in the restaurant, the former noble is in the pool, ‘probably harassing women there,’ the TV station director gambles away in the casino. The only person they need to look for now is just the IT president. 

Seeing as the scouting mission was just about finished, they all start to return to the real world. Right before Akira is taken in by the Meta Nav, he sees Goro and Ryuji hanging behind. 

“Crow? Skull?” Akira shouts out.

“We’ll be fine! Just needed to talk about something, we can get back on our own so don’t worry too much, leader!” Ryuji shouts back, a toothy smile on his face.

He reluctantly agrees, resigning to be taken by the swirling rippling red. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've been mostly drawing the past couple of weeks, hence the late update. many apologies. school is gonna be starting for me next week which miiiight slow down my posts, but i don't know for certain
> 
> also scream at me or smth at [here](https://twitter.com/GrilledKoi) or [here](https://twitter.com/AxoKoi) im more active on the first one but i also want to shamelessly promote my art


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